Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the manager of this legislation for his leadership. Let me also acknowledge and thank Mr. Hoyer for his, as…”

“I thank the manager of this legislation for his leadership. Let me also acknowledge and thank Mr. Hoyer for his, as well, and to Mr. Clyburn, Ms. Bass, Mr. Thompson, and, as I indicated, Mr. Butterfield. Mr. Speaker, let me start as I did just a few minutes ago, ``In God we trust,'' and recognize that God has created, in many of our faiths, all of us equal as humans. We stand together dealing with the Confederacy that diminished and denied those descendants, those African slaves, their humanity. And yet, in a place of freedom, this place, we honor them. Mr. Speaker, I welcome H.R. 7573 and am glad to be joining as a staunch supporter, for, if Justice Taney viewed me as inhuman, then that means that those today, those babies yet unborn from descendants of enslaved African Americans, would be inhuman. This is needed not because we don't put it in the historical context, but because we need to unify America. Mr. Speaker, as we have lost a great warrior, John Lewis, and, as well, C. T. Vivian, I know they are looking down to say that we are not to honor those who voluntarily serve to deny us our humanity and to fight for the Confederacy and were treasonous. {time} 1515 Alexander Hamilton Stephens--it is interesting that he secured the name of Alexander Hamilton--has a statue in Statuary Hall. It says: I am not fearful of anything on Earth, I am not fearful of anything above, except to do something wrong. That is what Alexander Hamilton Stephens said.…”