Political Quotes

“And still I rise, a proud, liberated Democrat. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address systemic racism in the judicial system. I believe one of the best ways to explain this and help persons understand with some degree of clarity is to use an example. Let's use an example of a 25-year-old White man. Let us assume that he is jogging through a neighborhood near his home. Let's assume that he is accosted by three Black men in a truck with a liberation flag on it. And let us assume that when they accost him, one of them has a shotgun and there is an encounter with this person, who happens to be a Black man. The White man is jogging, the Black men are pursuing, and now there is an encounter. Let's assume that this Black male shoots the White man, and in so doing, a case is brought to court by way of a video. Let's assume that in this case, the prosecutor is Black, that the judge is Black, and let's assume that the defense attorneys are able to select a jury that has 11 Black people, one White person. Mr. Speaker, this happens quite often in our country. As a matter of fact, it can happen regularly in our country to Black people. Black people don't have the luxury of being tried by juries with 11 Black people on them. They are likely to be fewer than three. Black people don't have the luxury of being in a courtroom where the judge is Black, the prosecutor is Black, the court reporter is Black, and the witnesses are Black.…”