Donald M. Payne: “I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois. This is a very timely topic, as we have seen what has transpired in our Nation…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois. This is a very timely topic, as we have seen what has transpired in our Nation over the past several weeks. It is incredible to me how fast this issue has moved over the past month. But it always seems that it takes a horrific act in this country for us to wake up and realize that maybe something isn't right. {time} 1930 Nine people at church study on a Wednesday night, not knowing their fate, were gunned down in cold blood by someone who actually said: You know, they were so nice to me, I almost didn't do it, but I had to. Last week in South Carolina, there was a monumental step in removing the Confederate flag from its State capitol, where it had shamefully flown for 54 years; but here in our Nation's Capitol last week, Republicans tried to go back to the future. House Republicans had to pull a vote on a spending bill because some of their Members opposed a measure that would ban Confederate flags from national cemeteries, and when the Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, presented an opportunity for Republicans to do the right thing and immediately remove the Confederate flag from the Capitol Grounds, they punted. South Carolina, the birthplace of the Confederacy, had the courage to do what the House Republicans did not, remove that dreaded symbol. It is the symbol of an incomprehensible hate, a hate that manifested itself in a massacre.…”