Ritchie Torres: “I thank the gentlewoman, as always, for the inspiration of words. Our colleague, Congressman Jones, spoke earlier of…”

“I thank the gentlewoman, as always, for the inspiration of words. Our colleague, Congressman Jones, spoke earlier of Brown v. Board of Education. Brown v. Board of Education was the first legal case I ever read. In high school, I participated in a form of legal debate known as moot court, which taught me how to think, read, write, and speak critically and artfully. I will never forget after reading Brown v. Board of Education how inspired I felt, those words in the field of education: Separate but equal is inherently unequal. Those words inspired me to see myself--as a young Black man--as a public servant and maybe one day as a Member of the United States Congress. But I have to be honest. If you had said to me 1 year ago that I would become a Member of Congress during an infectious disease outbreak, that I would witness an insurrection against the U.S. Capitol during the electoral college vote count, and that I would then vote to impeach an outgoing President who had been impeached once before, I would have said that sounds a lot like a movie. So this has been the most draining and disorienting beginning for any freshman class in the modern history of the United States Congress, but I am nevertheless honored to be here. January 6 is a reminder that the mission of the CBC takes on a renewed urgency. The Congress Member and I sit on the Homeland Security Committee, and one of our highest priorities is going to be counterterrorism.…”