Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I thank the ranking member, Mr. Davis, for his support of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, the Capitol Building is the wellspring of American democracy, freedom, and equality. We don't always live that out as perfectly as we would like, but it is that simple. Every time I walk to the floor, Mr. Speaker, I pass sandstone blocks quarried and hewn centuries ago by enslaved Black Americans. It is a tragic irony that the people's House was built by Americans who were originally excluded from those extraordinary first three words of our Constitution, ``We the People.'' While we cannot remove the stones and bricks that were placed here in bondage, we can ensure that the movable pieces of art we display here celebrate freedom; not slavery, not sedition, not segregation. That is why I sponsored legislation, which the House passed earlier this Congress, that would have removed the statues of those who supported slavery and segregation from the Capitol as well as the bust of Chief Justice Roger Brook Taney from the Old Senate Chamber. That bill was cosponsored by Mr. Clyburn, the Democratic whip; by Joyce Beatty, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus; and Karen Bass, who was then the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and is about to be the mayor of Los Angeles.…”