John Bel Edwards: “Thank you very much, Congresswoman Christensen. I am so proud to be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus with a…”

“Thank you very much, Congresswoman Christensen. I am so proud to be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus with a 40-year history and legacy of fighting for justice and looking out for the most vulnerable and giving voice to people who would not have a voice in this United States Congress. We are about ready to close, and I would like to end the evening and the hour by pointing those at home, those in this Chamber to an op-ed in today's paper that actually brings together the two forces that Dr. King was bringing together even just before he was so tragically assassinated, bringing together the civil rights movement and the labor movement. In an op-ed today in today's Washington Post entitled, ``The Middle Class Dream That Cannot Die,'' Benjamin Todd Jealous, who is the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, and Mary K. Henry, who is the international president of the Service Employees International Union, draw together that middle class dream for the American people that's built on a foundation of civil rights and social justice and partnered with labor and working people. ``I Am a Man.'' I would like to close this evening by reminding again, all of us, that April 4 and the years we remember in between are years about building upon a tragedy to build a legacy. ``I Am a Man.'' Dr. King reminded us again about the fight for jobs and retirement security and health care and care for the most vulnerable.…”