Political Quotes

“I thank the assistant Democratic leader. We come back to the floor today, the Senator from Minnesota and I, to reoffer a unanimous consent request that Senator Markey, the Senator from Massachusetts, and I offered previously. After the death of George Floyd and, unfortunately, similar incidents, it has become increasingly obvious that our country is in need of reconciliation--racial reconciliation and personal reconciliation. One of the things we could do to honor the memory of George Floyd and to attempt to take one small step toward that reconciliation is to make Juneteenth a Federal holiday. We previously had offered this unanimous consent request, and my friend from Wisconsin has his reasons for objecting, but one of the major newspapers in my State said to me: Try again. So I am coming here to the floor to reoffer. Juneteenth has been a holiday in Texas for 40 years because of the distinct Texas connection. Just to remind my colleagues, Juneteenth was the day when the Union Army Major General Gordon Ganger showed up in Galveston and told people who had previously been slaves that they were no longer slaves 2\1/2\ years after the Emancipation Proclamation. I believe, in all sincerity, we need to remember our history because, you know what, we learn from our mistakes, and if we don't remember our history, we will not learn from our mistakes, and we will commit those mistakes over and over and over again.…”