Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for the time and the kind comments about my favorite team. I thank the majority party for the opportunity to bring this bill to the floor. Mr. Speaker, this is a very, very special and emotional day on the island of Puerto Rico and throughout the Puerto Rican community in the United States. This is a tribute long, long, long overdue. If you know the history of our country--and we all do--you know that many groups have been treated unfairly, and many have been treated unfairly during wartime, which is so unfair. Let me read to you something that I found that is very interesting: The regiment faced unique challenges due to discrimination and prejudice, including the humiliation of being ordered to shave their moustaches ``until such a time as they gave proof of their manhood,'' being forced to use separate showering facilities from their non-Hispanic officers, being ordered not to speak Spanish under penalty of court-martial, flawed personal rotation policies based on ethnic and organizational prejudices, and a catastrophic shortage of trained noncommissioned officers. Yet most of them were volunteers, if not all. Yet they fought with great valor. Yet they knew that they were very much a part of this Nation. So today, in awarding this Congressional Gold Medal, we are not just repairing a mistake of the past, but we are also paying tribute to ourselves as a nation. Our Nation is great in many ways.…”