On the recordJuly 29, 2010
Thank you very much to the manager of this bill, and thank you for allowing me to rise to salute our colleague, Congressman John Lewis, and the list of honorees that he listed just a few minutes ago, part of the founding foundation of SNCC. So many of us associated ourselves as we looked to this group of young people who were willing to leave the comfort of classrooms around America, college classrooms, and begin to stand alongside of those who might have been considered elders in the movement. You know, there are many discussions about whether an entity or a group is a movement. We've heard that of late over the last couple of few years. But those of us who know the civil rights movement and know about SNCC, know about the SCLC, we really understand what a movement was and what it is. Fifty years is appropriate to commemorate a group that sacrificed themselves in the name of peace and nonviolence. Remember now, they were young people, energized, active, dedicated young people, full of energy, and certainly tempted by the violence that was around them. But because of leaders like John Lewis, their president, they were able to truly create a movement. They provided the legs and the genius of the sit-in movement as they went around the places of the South. You know, when you're young, you can sit for a long time. You have the tenacity to be able to withstand the back-bending sitting that it requires.
