Political Quotes

“tonight we are going to continue our discourse here on the subject of affirmative action. As you know, Mr. Speaker, that has become a subject that a lot of Americans are concerned about these days. So tonight, once again, I am pleased to join with three colleagues who will take a few moments to try and get the public and our fellow Members in this body to understand a little better what this whole issue of affirmative action is all about. Tonight, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be joined by the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Bennie Thompson], my friend, the gentlewoman from Texas, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, and my friend, the gentleman from Alabama, Congressman Earl Hilliard. To begin with, Mr. Speaker, as I have noted before, for 18 years prior to my coming to the Congress, I served my State of South Carolina as State human affairs commissioner. In that job, it was my responsibility to look after the employment practices, the fair housing practices, all of these issues we had under one umbrella, and one of those things had to do with affirmative action. So every year, while I was there, we issued a report on the subject of affirmative action. I want to use a little from that report to hopefully shed some more light on this subject. Now, in South Carolina, I am very proud of the fact that affirmative action was the order of the day under four different Governors. I served four Governors, two Democrats, two Republicans.”