Political Quotes

“But, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland so much for his friendship over the years, and I appreciate being a part of this special order to speak on this very special issue. As the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson), our chair in the Congressional Black Caucus, stated so eloquently, one of the reasons to me, the main reason for this document, which I think was first published in the 101st Congress, and of course I came here in the 103rd, is in order to give young people most especially in our country a fuller understanding of the broad history of this great Nation. I have always maintained, as so many others, that Black History Month is a time for us in this country to focus attention in an affirmative way on what some of the issues are today that have come to pass because of our passive resistance in so many areas in years gone by. As I go around my district during this month, I like to remind the students that I talk to. I go to public schools and private schools. In fact, I have gone to participating in a Black History Month program in a private academy in my district with only one black student. But I accepted the invitation, because I wanted to be there to talk to those students, irrespective of skin color, about what this month really means. In this country, we tend sometimes when we know that there is an issue that needs to be addressed, we tend not to take the giant step. We want to creep and then crawl, then walk and run.”