On the recordFebruary 25, 2019
Madam President, I rise today, in commemoration of Black History Month, to recognize, honor, and pay tribute to five Pennsylvanians who have committed themselves to creating innovative solutions to our Nation's most pressing problems. For 13 years, I have stood on this floor on this Monday, every year, to pay tribute to Pennsylvanians. Sometimes it has been one individual, and sometimes it has been more than one, but today we have five honorees. While these innovators hail from different backgrounds and have each mastered a different craft, they share one thing in common, and that is a commitment to their communities and to improving the lives of others in groundbreaking ways. Today, we will honor the individual work of the following people. I will list them for you first and then talk about each of them in succession: first, the Reverend Dr. Lorina Marshall-Blake; second, Joan Myers Brown; third, Sulaiman Rahman; fourth, Rakia Reynolds; and fifth, Omar Woodward. You will hear more about each of them in a moment. There is no one way, of course, to make a difference in our society. I hope the stories of today's honorees will help to inspire the next generation of leaders. These honorees are with us here in Washington today, and we are grateful to have the chance to spend a couple of minutes talking about each of them. Let me start with the Reverend Dr. Lorina Marshall-Blake, someone I have known for a long time.…





