Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I am honored to stand here today in support of a bill to designate the Marrero, Louisiana, post office for Lionel Collins, Sr. We will name a number of post offices today, and I just want to state why it is important to me and why it makes a difference: because as a kid, when you pass buildings and you pass things that have names on them, it makes you go back and research who was that person and what did they do so great to get a building or a facility named after them. I hope that today when we pass this bill to name this post office after Judge Lionel Collins, that kids will get a chance to pass by and say: ``What made Lionel Collins deserving of a post office?'' and ``When I grow up, will I be deserving of a post office?'' and ``What is it I need do in my life to make a difference?'' When they go back and they do the research, they will see that Judge Lionel Collins was a pioneering civil rights lawyer. He dedicated his life to making Louisiana a more just and equal State for them. He was the first African American to win elected office in Jefferson Parish where he served as the judge in the 24th Judicial District in Gretna. Lionel had long roots in the metropolitan area. He was born in Harvey in 1927 and attended Gilbert Academy before serving in the United States Army. After that, he went on to the esteemed Xavier University, and then went on to receive his juris doctorate from Howard University in 1954.…”