Build Unity

Floor Speech

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, that which has occurred in Dallas, Texas, gives a sad meaning to the term ``in the line of duty.''

In the line of duty, there are husbands who will not return home. In the line of duty, peace officers will not return home. Although I don't know the gender of all of them, I want to make sure I cover them all; so let me say that, in the line of duty, there are peace officers who will not return home.

Those husbands and wives and children had every reason to believe that their loved ones would return home. They are in pain, and I want them to know that we suffer together. All of us in this country suffer whenever any one of us is taken by violence. Innocent people in this country are suffering. People of good will are suffering. Families are suffering.

My prayer is that, out of this adversity, we can build a unity that will afford us the opportunity to develop the harmony necessary for the people of the greatest Nation in the world to live together.

We have to span these chasms that divide us, and forgiveness is in order, but we must also make sure that justice is done. All who are associated with the dastardly deeds that occurred with reference to Dallas must be arrested, convicted, and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent that the law allows. There can be no exceptions.

The time has come now for those who are suffering to receive our prayers and our sympathies, and I regret that ``in the line of duty'' has taken on a different meaning for them.

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