A Message 68 Years in the Making
Floor Speech
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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I love my country. No one says the Pledge of Allegiance with greater enthusiasm than I. No one sings ``God Bless America'' with more love for country than I.
Mr. Speaker, I consider it a preeminent privilege to stand in the well of the Congress of the United States of America to address some of the great issues of our time.
Mr. Speaker, the message that I deliver today has been 68 years in the making. The message that I deliver today had its genesis with my mother, who cautioned me that I must behave a certain way in the presence of the constabulary, the police; a mother who was concerned for her son, who always made it very clear to me that I had to say yes, sir and no, sir, and that I had to always accept whatever the police said to me.
This message is 68-plus years in the making, Mr. Speaker. The message is, in part, based upon what my uncle, who was a deputy sheriff, shared with me about my behavior in the presence of the police; that I must always, always yield to the police; submit to the police; never challenge the police. Sixty-eight years in the making, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, my heart is heavy after what has happened over the last 2 days to Black men in the United States of America. My heart is heavy. I had the unfortunate circumstance of seeing what happened to that man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the ground with his hands flailing, blood flowing from his chest.
I heard the young lady this morning pleading to God: Jesus, God, don't let him be dead. Maybe not her exact words, but very much what she said: Don't let him be dead; don't let this happen.
Mr. Speaker, we have to do something about the killing of Black men at the hands of the constabulary in this country. If you don't want to investigate the police, if you don't want to investigate the system, the culture that causes it, investigate Black men. Find out why they want to run out in front of bullets.
Let's find out why they are the ones who are consistently, and with some degree of systemic order, forcing themselves upon the police such that they find themselves dead. Investigate us.
I am a Black man in the United States of America. I have lived what I am saying. Sixty-eight years in the making, that is how long this speech has been made. I don't need a written piece of paper. I know what is going on. I was a judge for 26 years. I saw it. I can give firsthand testimony about what is going on. It is time for us to investigate what is happening to Black men in this country.
Black lives do matter. These people are trying to tell us something, these young people. We must listen to them. Let us not ignore what is going on. The camera's eye doesn't lie. If you look at these videos and you use your common sense, you know that there is something going on, and we need to investigate it.
And it is pervasive, it is not just one-off circumstances that we are having to contend with. These things are happening across the length and breadth of this country. Every venue has some account that can be called to our attention. It is time for us to do something.
Mr. Speaker, I call on you. Mr. Speaker, you are the Speaker of the whole House. Mr. Speaker, I call on you to assemble the House so that we can address the issue of Black men dying at the hands of police in this country. And we ought to investigate it to the extent that we come to conclusions about the people that are involved in these tragedies. We should not have to have another mother to have her child in the car, 4 years of age, when her boyfriend is killed.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the time, and I thank God for giving me 68 years to develop this message. And I pray, Mr. Speaker, that you will do something about what is happening to Black men in this country.
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