John Conyers: “I was very moved by the remarks of the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton). This plays right into the…”

“I was very moved by the remarks of the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton). This plays right into the book recently written by Randall Robinson called The Debt in which he, touring the Capitol with his wife, found this tremendous sculpture about everybody that had contributed, but there were no depictions of slaves and their contribution. So all of the dialogue tonight has been very, very important in beginning to recognize and bring forward, as scholars are, as forums are going on in our universities, in which we are bringing up the records of the slaves, of their travels across the waters, the insurance records, and a lot of other factual materials. So it seems to me that we are moving inextricably into the question of how we recognize and study the question of reparations as may affect them. I could not imagine this conversation just going on tonight without us examining what we do in the preparation of a commission to study the history of slaves and their descendants in terms of their contributions and where we might fit into the picture presently. So I see this as a tapestry, a very important part of it.”