Political Quotes

“I thought about that often stated mantra that Black history is really America's history, and it is. It came very forcefully to me the last 2 weeks as I watched things happening in St. Paul and Minneapolis: I thought about Selma and Montgomery. When I saw what I consider to be the murder of Alex Pretti, I thought about Jimmie Lee Jackson. I may be the only one on this floor old enough to remember Jimmie Lee Jackson and what led to his death and what his death precipitated. The fact of the matter is, the reason I thought about him was because Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot and murdered by law enforcement when he was trying to protect his mother, and I saw Alex Pretti trying to protect a woman and being murdered. It told me why I was thinking about Selma and Montgomery as I watched things happen in St. Paul and Minneapolis. We ought to learn lessons from history. As George Santayana, that great Spanish philosopher, said to us that if we fail to learn the lessons of history, we are bound to repeat them.”