Charles Rangel: “Well, rules are rules, and they have to be followed. I had really hoped that given my long acquaintance with Ed Jenkins…”

“Well, rules are rules, and they have to be followed. I had really hoped that given my long acquaintance with Ed Jenkins that I would have the opportunity to share with his family and those that knew him. Unfortunately, those of us that were raised in the village of Harlem have very few opportunities to meet white Southern gentlemen, and it took a long while when he came on the committee for me to even understand what Ed Jenkins was talking about. But it didn't take long for me to understand that people are people no matter where they come from; they love, they get angry, they work out things. Now is the time I think more than ever that we just need somebody like Ed Jenkins to cross that barrier that we seem to have in a partisan way, in such a deep, hurting, partisan way in this Congress. Sandy Levin can tell you, whenever our chairman Dan Rostenkowski had a problem, there was no problem that Ed Jenkins would not take a look at and recognize that it was not a Democratic problem, it was not a majority problem, but it was a problem that the United States of America really faced. Since the Chair cannot entertain, I will then go to Reverend John Lewis and find out how we can work out something in a faith tradition so that all of us will get a chance to know, enjoy, and love the memory of a great American, the former Congressman, Edgar Jenkins. ____________________”