Political Quotes

“I wanted to rise to the floor to add my appreciation in celebration of H. Res. 562, directing the Office of the Historian to compile oral histories from Members of the House of Representatives involved in the historic and annual Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, marches, and certainly those who started in 1965. Let me first of all thank the sponsor of the bill, Terri Sewell, and acknowledge that I've had the privilege of marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge for almost two decades with the Faith & Politics organization and John Lewis. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was in Marion, Alabama, receiving an award from the Perry County organization with Commissioner Turner on commemorating Jimmie Lee Jackson Day, who was the first person shot who went to a rally that Dr. Martin Luther King held simply to express his right to vote. He was shot trying to protect his mom and his grandmother, dragged out of the place and stomped to death. Now some 45 years later, we're able to commemorate, but we must recount the stories of those who were there and those who still march today. As we proceed to improve on voting today and end the oppression of voter IDs, it is appropriate to celebrate this resolution and to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge this coming Bloody Sunday. ____________________”