Sheila Jackson Lee: “I take this brief moment to salute Latrice Powell. We are humbled by her service. I wear on my jacket Lady Freedom. I…”

“I take this brief moment to salute Latrice Powell. We are humbled by her service. I wear on my jacket Lady Freedom. I would argue that Latrice Powell is our Sojourner Truth because she is a pioneer and has made an enormous difference in this House, that is the people's House. She truly is a representative of the people. With that in mind, I thank her so very much for all that she has done. Madam Speaker, I must take this separate moment again, as she knows, to honor those who died in Atlanta, to honor them for the vile way in which they lost their lives; to say that those women, Asian-American women, really were the victims of hate crimes. Why? Because women gender can be a hate crime. Madam Speaker, and I would only say to my colleague--a friend of mine, yes, from Texas--in the midst of pain, to talk about a rope and an oak tree as a tradition of Texas, lynching, is absurd, unacceptable, and I denounce. I apologize for any hurt that was given to the Asian-American community, and I ask my colleague to apologize. Madam Speaker, I ask us to join together against hate crimes. ____________________”