Peter H. Bell: “I rise to join with the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), my fellow Houstonian and colleague, to commemorate…”

“I rise to join with the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), my fellow Houstonian and colleague, to commemorate Juneteenth, a very important day in the State of Texas; for on this day June 19 in 1865, General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced the freedom of the last American slaves, nearly 2 rac{1}{2} years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise. It commemorates freedom while emphasizing scholarship and achievement. Juneteenth honors the 400 years of suffering African Americans endured under slavery and celebrates the legacy of perseverance that has become the hallmark of the African American community's struggle for equality. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, 'Freedom is never free'; and A. Phillip Randolph, an African American labor leader, was fond of saying 'freedom is never given. It is won.' We should all recognize the power and the ironic truth of those statements, and we should pause to remember the enormous price paid by all Americans in our country's quest to define what the word 'freedom' truly means. As a symbol of freedom and of enormous burdens overcome, Juneteenth should almost be as important to my fellow Americans as July 4.”