Elijah Cummings: “It certainly is an honor to stand here today to salute a great hero. As I watched the President on television last…”

“It certainly is an honor to stand here today to salute a great hero. As I watched the President on television last night, and as I listen to my colleagues, and I am very grateful to all of them for every syllable that is spoken on behalf of Jackie Robinson, I stand, Mr. Speaker, and wonder what he would feel if he were standing here today. In Baltimore, where I hail from, we have a team that is doing pretty good right now. I look at that team and I ask myself, if it were not for a Jackie Robinson, how many African-American players would be there today? But going back to the question that I asked before, the question is how would he feel. I think that and I hope that as we celebrate this great man's life, and certainly we do not celebrate because he died but because he lived, I hope that we will keep a lot of things in mind, and I am sure if Jackie Robinson were here today he would agree with me. First of all, it is true that he did break the color barrier with regard to baseball. But as I read his history, it went far beyond that. He was a man who spoke eloquently about race relations. He stood up for what was right, no matter what the situation was. And that is very important in our society; that we ought to bring about positive change. I would submit that he was a great man of integrity.”