Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to honor Walter Knight, who passed away on June 20, 2023, at the age of 89. Mr. Knight will be remembered for his numerous acts of leadership in the community of Beloit, WI--notably, serving as the first African-American on the Beloit Police and Fire Commission and the first African-American to be elected to the Beloit City Council. Mr. Knight spent the first 17 years of his life in Arkansas where he attended segregated public schools and graduated from Union Grove High School in 1951. Upon graduation, he moved to Beloit, WI, where he went on to work for Fairbanks Morse in the foundry. The grueling conditions of the foundry motivated him to enroll in Blackhawk Technical College. This allowed him to move into a position in the machine shop at Fairbanks Morse where he remained for 25 years. Later in his career at Fairbanks Morse, he was elected the president of the Local Union 1533 United Steelworkers of America from 1972-1976. To further advance his educational career, Mr. Knight studied union policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At the time he attended Madison, less than 1 percent of students were African-American. After securing higher-level education, Mr. Knight's activist voice and profound leadership in the Beloit community led him to be elected the first African-American on the Beloit City Council, where he served from 1972-1985. Mr. Knight's involvement and dedication to the Beloit community did not stop there.…”