On the recordJuly 9, 2015
We have children to educate, and we have children to love and to have them to understand what America is all about. We are southerners and northerners. We come from the East and the West. We love our cooking, we love our culture, but we are Americans. So today I ask this body to allow us to debate this question to a resolution that enhances American unity. The Supreme Court issued a statement in Walker v. Sons of Confederate Veterans, a Texas case. Before the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, early on, as just a civilian, I argued against Confederate license plates. We won that case. The Supreme Court said that public speech that offends or oppresses is not allowed. I am not talking about the flag on your car or your home, but I am saying that this rebel flag does not represent America, does not teach our children, and it does not heal. And I would offer to say that we are long overdue for a debate like that in the senate in South Carolina, to follow Reverend Pinckney's words that we have to know how to break the cycle and of a roadway toward a better world. He knew that a path of greatness involves an open mind, but more importantly, an open heart. I hope we can debate H. Res. 342, which enhances the unity of our country, not this flag. ____________________
