We Must Continue to Root Out Racism

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and I thank him for leading this important hour tonight.

Madam Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus and with Americans from our great country because it is time to root out racism.

While racism has, tragically, been a part of the American story--from Jamestown to Jim Crow; to the Little Rock Nine, whose 60th anniversary is today--in 2017, we are seeing it rise in new and disturbing ways.

Right now, there is a sham, ``Presidential voting commission,'' plotting to turn back the clock on our voting rights.

Right now, African Americans live in fear that they will be stricken down, unjustly, because of the color of their skin.

Right now there is an un-American and unconstitutional Muslim ban preventing families from reuniting.

Right now the Attorney General is undoing consent decrees and pouring billions of tax dollars into the for-profit prison industry.

Right now there are rabid racists, White nationalists, and White supremacists that this administration won't denounce.

And right now our President refuses to blame White supremacists for racially motivated killings in Charlottesville. The individuals, who inspired this bigoted violence, he called ``some very fine people.''

Just this weekend, we saw President Trump attack athletes for exercising their First Amendment rights; using terms like ``you people'' and ``those people'' in an effort to further divide us.

Our Commander in Chief is uniting those who hate, while ignoring millions of Americans facing a humanitarian disaster in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Florida, and Houston.

Madam Speaker, if we want to root out racism, we need to start at the top. Let's start with this White House.

Racism is a cancer. You don't ignore a cancer. You don't let it fester and grow. You cut it out. You purge it. You remove it. That is what we must do with racism: remove it, stop it before it grows further and consumes us.

America's greatest strength has always been our diversity. It is the source of our economic innovation that made us the world's largest economy. It is our ability to stand shoulder to shoulder and face down any threats that have been made to America, from the Contrabands and the Red Tails to Lance Corporal Jose Gutierrez. It is our ability to see ourselves and our families in one another that makes America great. It is our compassion and belief that we all share a higher purpose, as Americans, that propels us to higher heights.

It is our capacity to come together and break bread, help someone with a flat tire, even give our own lives for those of others. These are the things that make America great, not some idealized, grayscale image of a misremembered past.

It is all Americans who make America great, and that greatness comes in all colors, all genders, all faiths, all orientations. When we stand together, we are stronger. When we are divided, we will fail. That is why it is imperative that we call out racism, decry racism, and, most importantly, root out racism.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source