First Principles

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, on the question of race, we clearly have come a long way in America, but we still have a long way to go.

There are some in this country who want to sugarcoat the African- American experience in the great United States of America, but the facts are the facts. In this country, the African-American community has been forced to endure slavery, rape, kidnapping, lynchings, Jim Crow, segregation, mass incarceration, and a police brutality epidemic that continues to this very day. It was in this context that athletes like Colin Kaepernick bravely chose to kneel down so that others may have the courage to stand up.

There are some who have criticized these athletes as unpatriotic, but their actions are uniquely American. Liberty and justice for all is an American value. Equal protection under the law is an American value. Freedom of speech and expression as embedded in the First Amendment is an American value.

Yet there is criticism coming even from folks in the White House. I find this ironic because this is the same group of people at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who regularly refuse to criticize Vladimir Putin and defend Russia's interference with our election, undermining American democracy for the first time in our Nation's history. How dare you lecture us about what is patriotic.
So I just came to the House floor to make it clear to all of the athletes across this great country who have chosen to stand up and confront injustice in our society that there are Members of the United States Congress who have your back.

Steph Curry, we have your back.

LeBron James, we have your back.

Coach Mike Tomlin, we have your back.

You stand on the shoulders of giants like Joe Louis, Wilma Rudolph, Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali, and so many others who throughout the annals of time chose to confront injustice in America to make us a better place. Now you have taken the baton, and, thankfully, you are doing the same exact thing. We should be grateful.

God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

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