Sheila Jackson Lee: “Let me thank the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio for setting just the right tone of why members of the Congressional…”

“Let me thank the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio for setting just the right tone of why members of the Congressional Black Caucus are on the floor today. Let me acknowledge the gentleman from New York, who is now Speaker pro tempore, who is my co-anchor. How appropriate for him to be presiding over this Special Order dealing with the deeply embedded segregationist, violent period when we were fighting for voting rights. Isn't it interesting that we are now in the midst of fighting for the passage of H.R. 1, but we are in the midst of a battle to ensure the passage of H.R. 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act? Let me just briefly set the tone, as my members continue to do, and to tell the story. Maybe many of us may not know the significance. I realize that there has been some discussion on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which I have crossed now for almost 30 years during Bloody Sunday, which was, in fact, yesterday, March 7. It was named after Edmund Pettus. Isn't it interesting that it was named more than three decades after his death? They wanted to honor a symbol of the Confederacy. They wanted to honor someone who was soaked in the blood and the anguish of slavery. This river, the Alabama River, was a key route for the slave plantation and cotton economy during slavery. That is what the Edmund Pettus Bridge was, a key route for the cotton economy during slavery and Reconstruction.…”