Burgess Owens: “I want to close with just a few remarks thanking my colleagues and thanking Mr. Stokes again for the tradition that has…”

“I want to close with just a few remarks thanking my colleagues and thanking Mr. Stokes again for the tradition that has been established here by the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just the beginning. I hope that we stimulate a more thorough discussion all year round within the African-American community in general, but all of our organizations and all of our leaders ought to take another close look at history. What we need is more profundity. We need to dig deeper into our history and follow the example of the South Africans. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a model that is still pertinent for America. I think we ought to understand that some of the tensions within our society are there because people do not understand what the history of slavery is all about. They do not understand, even our own young people do not understand, how great their ancestors were. I talk to young people and I say, all your ancestors were members of an aristocracy, an aristocracy of survivors. Survivors. Just to survive, just to survive the Atlantic crossing, just to get here to these shores alive, to survive 232 years. Two hundred thirty-two years. And remember Shakespeare's phrase, 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow.' What was 232 years like? What did slaves have to look forward to?”