Political Quotes

“I thank Congressman Torres for yielding. Madam Speaker, it is indeed my honor to stand in this Chamber tonight to speak up, to speak out about voting rights, voter suppression, fighting back, disenfranchised, section 4, section 5, section 2, all of which you will hear about tonight. We are here as members of the Congressional Black Caucus because we want to make sure that all of our colleagues hear our story, a story that they, too, should know so well, the story of a lady by the name of Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist from Mississippi who didn't even know that she could have had the right to vote. Recently, her granddaughter told that story. As I read that and thought about how she dedicated her life to voting rights, fast- forward, think about our beloved friend, colleague, mentor, the late Congressman John Lewis, who stood on this floor at this microphone and told us his story, told us about that day when he was crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, what it felt like--dogs, hose, police officers, knocked down, and could have died. But the story ends with a good message because he would have done it all over again. He told us, if you see something, say something. He reminded us that it is our role to get in good trouble. So tonight, we want our colleagues, especially those on the other side of the aisle, to know that this is one of our top priorities. We want them to know that four times Republican Presidents reauthorized the Voting Rights Act.…”