Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the gentlewoman from New York for her courtesies. Mr. Speaker, it has been a long journey. It has not been…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from New York for her courtesies. Mr. Speaker, it has been a long journey. It has not been yesterday, the day before, or last month, or a few years before. One could argue that it has been 12 years on this floor of the House. So many people have been involved: Danny Davis; my colleagues in the United States Senate, Senator Cornyn and Senator Markey; Barbara- Rose Collins, some 25 years ago with a resolution; others unnamed; and organizations across the Nation and some international. It has been a long journey. It has not been an easy journey. When we stand here today, we should be reminded of the fact that there were people who continued to experience the whips of a whip for 2 more years, even as Abraham Lincoln stood in the shining sun in the aftermath of Gettysburg to unite the Union and proclaim the slaves free in 1863. Just a few years ago, I had the teary privilege of being, at midnight, in the National Archives, looking at that document. Then, of course, it took 2 years for General Granger to get to Texas. But in that 2 years, we realize that tragedy continued and brutality continued, even into the 20th century. I salute the miraculous coming together today of the House leadership, the Speaker, Leader Hoyer, Whip Clyburn, Chairman Jeffries, and others who brought this to the floor through a rule, Chairman McGovern, and then a debate. Then, of course, here we are today. It is a long journey, but here we are.…”