Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. I also thank the gentleman for bringing us together on such an important moment, and…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I also thank the gentleman for bringing us together on such an important moment, and of course, as he reflected on the fact that I think we were together just a few years ago in the National Archives commemorating the importance of these amendments, but also the Emancipation Proclamation. And for those of us in Texas or in places past the Mississippi, if I might start with the question of freedom, we did not get the full impact of freedom until 1865. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the slaves free with his pronouncement in 1863, and then it took General Granger 2 years to come and present that to those of us west of the Mississippi. This is why I think this moment on the floor of the House, Mr. Speaker and Mr. Butterfield, is a sacred and somber moment. We can declare this a normal course of business, Mr. Mfume, that we are on the floor debating, as we usually do, but I really call this a sacred moment because it is a moment to educate the American people. It is a moment to go full circle, if you will, to all of the social justice advocacies that we have done, all of the issues that pretended to divide us. I think the reason is that, does anyone understand the legacy of those who are descendants of enslaved Africans? That we had to wait for an amendment to give us the fullness of a human being. We were not counted as human beings fully when the Constitution was written.…”