Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Black Americans who were assaulted, terrorized, and killed during the Jim Crow era. Our Nation has a long and troubling history of failing to deliver justice for victims of racially motivated violence. One could draw a direct line from the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 to the killing of Trayvon Martin just 10 years ago. In neither case were the killers convicted. Willie James Howard, Lamar Smith, and Reverend George W. Lee are but a few of the countless Black Americans who were killed for the crime of existing while Black in the Jim Crow South. In not one of these cases was a single perpetrator brought to justice. I am proud of the students from Hightstown, New Jersey, in my district, who took time to write the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act with my friend, Congressman Bobby Rush. I am now calling on this Chamber to pass the Civil Rights Cold Case Investigation Support Act, which will extend authorization of that legislation. By passing this bipartisan bill, we can begin to heal the wounds of our past and demonstrate that racist violence has no place in America.”