Political Quotes

“I rise tonight to join in this special order on the recent rash of arson attacks on African-American churches throughout the South. It causes me great pain that such a special order is necessary today, 40 years after Brown v. Board of Education and 30 years after the civil rights breakthroughs of the 1960's. I think that we all had believed that we were past the shameful period of our Nation's history when racist hate groups bombed and burned African-American churches in order to frighten African-American communities into submission. I don't know whether these fires were primarily the product of some misguided individual or some fringe hate group--or whether they represent the uncoordinated acts of a number of people who have focused their hatred and frustration on these churches. We will have to wait for the results of the ongoing investigations to find that out. But I do know that--whatever the reason--such acts are unacceptable. They are unconscionable. Few crimes are as abhorrent as an attack on a church. A church is a place to worship God. It is the heart of the moral and emotional life of any community. An attack on a church is a clear statement of hostility toward an entire community. In a country like ours that places a very high value on freedom of association, freedom of religion, and our Nation's diverse ethnic background, it should also be interpreted as an attack on the ideals and principles of our society. One such case would be too many.…”