Political Quotes

“It is a great question. Unfortunately sort of the arc of history here in this great country of ours is that whenever progress has been made it has been followed by a backlash. Progress was made with the Reconstruction amendments. It was followed by a backlash that gave us Jim Crow, the Black Codes, and an explosion of lynching in the South. Progress, of course, was made in the 1960s with the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act immediately followed by Richard Nixon's Southern strategy, and a backlash against things like affirmative action which had barely been put into motion and a rollback of the War on Poverty which was designed to help African Americans and all Americans of every race. Then, of course, many thought that we perhaps had reached a post- racial America in the aftermath of the election of President Barack Obama, but we know, of course, that that is not the case sadly. I am hopeful, however, that many of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Progressives who have come together, folks like Raul Labrador, Trey Gowdy, and Jason Chaffetz--good friends of mine on the other side of the aisle--recognize the importance of dealing with mass incarceration for America. Here are a few statistics that I think we need to be concerned about as it relates to your question.…”