James Oberstar: “Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago I had returned to Minnesota from a human rights inquiry trip with the Unitarian Universalist…”

“Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago I had returned to Minnesota from a human rights inquiry trip with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in El Salvador, where we inquired into abuses of human rights visited upon Salvadorans and the four American women, three church women and one lay woman. We visited the blood-spattered streets of San Antonio Abad, the site of La Matanza, the massacre outside of San Salvador. We met with numerous victims of violence by the government and resolved to take action in the Congress on our return to the United States. On my return, I was asked by the President of the student body of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, to come and address the students on the experience that I had just encountered. It was an overwhelming response. The place for the meeting was filled to overflowing, and students wanted to gather afterward. They asked me if I would come and join them at the home of one of the professors, which I did. Of course, at that meeting, it was very animated and intense questioning that came from the host, a young professor, who impressed me with his deep sense of caring, his feeling about this issue, his desire to do justice. I was not quite sure of his name, and I asked again: Paul Wellstone. I said, Professor, you ought to think about running for public office. He said, indeed, I am. I am considering running for State auditor.”