Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Virginia for his leadership on this very important piece of legislation, important not only for the Commonwealth of Virginia but for the rights of all Americans, beginning with the original Americans. When we talk about the Americas, we sometimes talk as if the Americas began in the early 17th century, with Jamestown, with Plymouth, and with the subsequent colonization of the East Coast. But, in fact, there were millions of Native Americans here long before European colonization. They had rich culture. They had incredible artistic expression. They had a way of life. It was disrupted by European colonization. As if some genocidal policies of the 18th and 19th century weren't bad enough in terms of their terrible impact on this population, the racism my friend from Florida described that went on shamefully in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the early 20th century deeply compounded the problem by denying the identity of individuals and communities as Native American so that the battle for them to have their rights restored that my good friend, Mr. Wittman, is trying to right today was made so much more difficult and complex. {time} 1445 If I destroy your identity papers, I destroy your ability to prove who you are. That is the dilemma and that is the catch-22 in which we find ourselves today. This is a matter of simple justice. This is a matter of Congress righting a wrong.…”