Vicente Gonzalez: “I believe we still have at least 5 minutes, and I surely wanted to reference an article that was written by our…”

“I believe we still have at least 5 minutes, and I surely wanted to reference an article that was written by our colleague from Georgia, John Lewis. Mr. Holt, I think, has already referred to Mr. Lewis' illustrative career in the civil rights movement and such, but I would like to read the last couple of paragraphs because coming from John Lewis it is special because he's lived the worst of times and he knows that it's been a progression, a slow one, and we're not there yet. To somehow return to those old days under the guise of some sort of voter fraud, which again has not been demonstrated, we know the cost is going to far exceed the benefits. This is what he said: These restrictions purportedly apply to all citizens equally. In reality, we know that they will disproportionately burden African Americans and other racial minorities, yet again. They are poll taxes by another name. The King Memorial reminds us that out of a mountain of despair we may hew a stone of hope. Forty-eight years after the March on Washington, we must continue our work with hope that all citizens will have an unfettered right to vote. Second-class citizenship is not citizenship at all. We've come some distance and have made great progress, but Dr. King's dream has not been realized in full. New restraints on the right to vote do not merely slow us down. They turn us backward, setting us in the wrong direction on a course where we have already traveled too far and sacrificed too much. {time} 1950 Mr.…”