African Americans have had to struggle to obtain what for others has been unquestionably understood as a God-given right.

It did not end with the Civil War. It did not end with Baker v. Carr.

The enslavement of people of African-American descent in America was started before we were a country, in 1619, and it has gone on through the end of the Civil War.

I mentioned seeing these movies that were Chadwick Boseman's movies.

It is patently unfair.

It was using Black people for the political power of southerners who wanted to have that power mostly to keep slavery legal.

H.R. 40 would create a commission to study the history of slavery in America, the role of the Federal and State governments in supporting slavery and racial discrimination.

Our colleague, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, who is a member of the subcommittee, is the current lead sponsor of this legislation.

Back in 2007, I introduced H. Res. 194--that was my first year in Congress--an apology by the House of Representatives for its role in perpetuating both slavery and its noxious offspring, Jim Crow.

An honest reckoning with the Federal Government's role in protecting the institution of slavery has been the leading priority of my congressional career.

It is only fitting then that in the midst of a continued reckoning over police treatment of Black people and a pandemic that has disproportionately impacted Black Americans, that we should hold this hearing today on H.R. 40.