And still I rise. And I rise today with love of country in my heart and a belief that the record has to be set straight. The record has to always reflect the truth, and there is a truth that is being obscured. I want to set the record…

I appreciate greatly what you have done because this program is something that is near and dear to a good many Texans.

I am especially honored because you are the chairperson and you have always been involved with the committees.

Still I rise, and I rise because I love my country. I rise because it is Black History Month, and I am always, during Black History Month, amazed at what Dr. King called to our attention in his letter from the Birmingham jail. It is one of…

The 10th Amendment argument has been used consistently by some States who deny rights.

I love my State but Texas has been a bad actor for decades.

I thank God for the Federal Government and the stand that has been taken over the years to protect the rights of people in States.

And still I rise. I rise today, Madam Speaker, to take a stand for liberty and justice for all against bigotry and hatred. I rise to call to our attention, Madam Speaker, that the refusal to resign because of blatant bigotry is a symptom…

The tax to buy your birth certificate is something that I think is onerous to the 24th Amendment to the Constitution.

Because I'm from Louisiana, when I went to vote, and I chose not to use my proper ID... it becomes a tax.

We have a duty, a responsibility, and an obligation to the people who made it possible for us to have these positions to take up this cause of justice.

The whole notion that Latinos somehow are illegal by virtue of the titles that are being accorded them by public officials.

It's not just that on birth certificates. Another example, we put people on buses in Houston...

the first thing I learned, Congressman Green, was then Attorney General Abbott's tweet that voter ID laws would be in effect in Texas

the Voting Rights Act has been so harmed by the Supreme Court and other judicial decisions

I'm a son of the segregated South. I know what it's like to be suspect because of your appearance.

It's also things like SB4 that are contributing to this environment of fear and suppression that is just poisonous for our democracy.

This is clearly an intent to intimidate and harass Latino voters.

The court found intentional packing and cracking against minorities.

If we want to believe in one person, one vote, government of and by and for the people, then we must guard, protect, hold, and fight for voting rights, including Section 5.

This type of behavior from public officials has to have an impact on the way people participate in a participatory democracy.

there are scores of other changes we don't even know about that can't be done or dealt with because of the injury to Section 5.

I see his grave. And it has to have extraordinary security mechanisms, because even to this day, it's vandalized by white citizens in that community.

Over the course of the next 36 hours, I drafted a lawsuit on behalf of Congressman Veasey and others

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice, but it doesn't do it on its own volition.