Charles Rangel: “I thank the gentleman for bringing up this resolution and also reminding Members of this House of Representatives of the…”

“I thank the gentleman for bringing up this resolution and also reminding Members of this House of Representatives of the pain and the suffering of so many Jewish people in Germany that occurred because no one spoke out when people said that Hitler was just another talker. There are some Members who have come to me in opposition to this resolution because of the procedure that was followed or the lack of procedure. Others have some concerns about freedom of speech. But let me say this to my friends and colleagues, that nobody in this House should walk away where there is any doubt in anybody's mind that the U.S. Congress finds these type of remarks not only repugnant as relates to what this person in Jersey has said, but repugnant for what this great republic and democracy stands for. Had it not been for the gentleman from California [Mr. Lantos], I would not even have known that a procedure existed that would give us the opportunity in this House of Representatives to pull out from the slime and the snakepits of this country those who want to split it by being anti-Semitic, by being racist, and by being against the things that have made this country so great. I would like to say that there are many of us who are African-Americans who have reached out to try to feel the pain that our Jewish brothers and sisters feel because we have never been in a struggle that we have had to call on them and they were not there.”