On the recordMarch 7, 2023
Let me thank the gentlewoman from Florida and the gentleman from Illinois for their distinguished leadership of the CBC Special Order and to acknowledge our chairman, Steve Horsford, and the leadership to be able to acknowledge a very important moment. Mr. Speaker, this is a time that draws memories, it draws emotions, and it draws a lot of tears. I am very privileged and honored to have worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as a college student in a program called SCOPE. How fortunate I was in the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King to meet his foot soldiers, which included James Orange, Hosea Williams, Andy Young, Reverend Dr. Ralph Abernathy, and a young man by the name of Jesse Louis Jackson, who we are privileged and honored to be able to not only know but to have his wisdom and his brilliance in leadership even with us today. Amongst those great leaders was a young man as well by the name of John Lewis, who continued, in his admiration for Dr. King, his own journey and fight. He was in the Freedom Riders, beaten at that time, as fellow riders, who did not look like him, were beaten bloody and even lost their life. Many Americans don't recall that history. Some call it the second civil war and the aftermath the second reconstruction. {time} 2015 There were many people who were willing to sacrifice their lives because of the right to vote--the right to vote, which was denied.…
