On the recordJuly 9, 2015
I thank the gentleman from the great State of Massachusetts for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this is an emotional time for many of us. This is an important bill. But we have just gone through an emotional time on this floor, again, raising up the ugliness of the rebel flag. I stand again to try and educate both the public and our colleagues about the damage that this flag has done to so many, for under that flag many were killed in the name of slavery. Interestingly, this is the 150th year of the elimination of slavery. I think about health care, and I spoke last evening about lupus, sickle cell anemia, and triple-negative breast cancer all falling discriminantly on minority populations. In life, there are still issues that face you because you are different. I call upon this House to recognize that, although we have many issues to debate, when you pierce the heart of someone because you believe he is inferior or different--when you want to coddle and protect the rebel flag--I hope we will get to the point between now and next week, as I introduce H. Res. 342 as a privileged resolution to ban all signs of hate, that we will rise to be unified together and stand under the American flag.
