John Spratt: “I did not interrupt the gentleman except for the single purpose of pointing out what he was about to point out himself.…”

“I did not interrupt the gentleman except for the single purpose of pointing out what he was about to point out himself. The gentleman very correctly recognized John Lewis as a great American hero. However, the gentleman from California was humble in not pointing out the fact, explicitly I think, that he himself was pretty heroic, a Freedom Rider, 3 months, 6 months in prison in Mississippi. For those of us who grew up in the South, that is a stirring testimonial. We are proud and I could see when we were down there that he was, I hope, pleased to see that some of the things that he fought for have come to fruition. A long way to go still, but the world is a much greater place because of the sacrifices that he and John Lewis made.”