Political Quotes

“first let me thank Congresswoman Waters for yielding and for introducing H.R. 1943, the Stop AIDS in Prison Act, and for your leadership on so many issues. But I just want to talk very briefly about what has happened since 1998 under your leadership when you were Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. I can remember when I was first elected in 1998, one of the first efforts that I was involved in with Congresswoman Waters, then as Chair, was calling together a national meeting on a moment's notice. I think we had maybe 2 weeks, 10 days to bring people from around the country here to Washington, DC to talk about a bold response to HIV and AIDS, especially here in the African American community given the devastation and the disproportionate rates that our communities are faced with. Out of that meeting, and it was truly a grassroots meeting in Washington, DC on Capitol Hill, we came up with several plans, several strategies, one of which was the idea to establish the Minority AIDS Initiative.”