On the recordOctober 23, 2017
I thank the gentleman from the Lone Star State, my classmate, Congressman Veasey, for hosting tonight's Special Order hour. Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that we find ourselves in this position where the lines are being so blurred that Gold Star families have come into this political discussion and are being dragged into this, unwillingly, over the past several days. I have great respect for General Kelly and was very delighted to see him get the job as Chief of Staff so that he could maybe bring some semblance of calm and normalcy to the White House, but it seems like he has been infected by the disease that is the scourge in the White House. There is no reason for him to fabricate what one of our colleagues said. The videotape is there. She never did one thing that General Kelly said she did on that fateful day in the dedication to that FBI building. I don't understand what is going on with people these days, but these are the times we find ourselves in. Mr. Speaker, as much as we would like to live in a colorblind society, in an America where people should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, we aren't there yet. Race, unfortunately, still matters. Juries devalue Black lives by punishing offenders more harshly when their victims are White than when their victims are Black. Police are more likely to use force when interacting with Black people than when interacting with White people.…
