Pelosi: ‘We Must Insist on the Truth as we Follow Dr. King's Inspiration'

Pelosi: ‘We Must Insist on the Truth as we Follow Dr. King's Inspiration'

Monday, January 16, 2006

San Francisco - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by speaking at the MLK Community and Labor Breakfast. Below are her remarks:

"I would like to thank you for the invitation to be here, with so many distinguished leaders at this Martin Luther King Jr. community and labor breakfast.

"The one person who brings it all together is community activist, Leroy King. Good morning, Leroy. I would like to join the Mayor in acknowledging the extraordinary work of Reverend Cecil Williams for our community and for our city. Thank you.

"I'm happy to join the official family of our city: our distinguished Mayor, Gavin Newsom; our hard-working Assemblyman, Mark Leno; our great leader, Kamala Harris; and our outstanding Supervisor, Sophie Maxwell. I want to say how proud I am of your leadership. I also want to commend Tim Paulson. Tim, I thank you for your leadership and that of Art Pulaski and the entire labor movement.

"Because of the legacy of social and economic justice that Martin Luther King treasured and lent to us, we should all celebrate a great victory against the threat of the special election held in November. Social and economic justice prevailed.

"We can't talk about community and devalue our teachers, devalue our first responders, our policeman and firefighters. We can't talk about community and have a budget that is harmful to children, and then in addition to that, try to make a political redistricting that would be harmful to our children and their future. So let's all celebrate that victory, and call it a step forward in embracing the legacy of Dr. King.

"Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you, especially for your leadership, you know the Mayor not only brings all the energy, intellect, and idealism that Cecil describes, he is a voice for his generation. What he is trying to do in so many ways in respecting diversity and saying, it should not divide us, it should define us, defines our strength.

"He's also moving forward in a very strong way to make San Francisco a green city, where there is environmental justice, and a city that is wired for the future. Gavin, you may not know this because it was before you were born, but maybe you read it in the history books. Dr. King made a great speech, ‘The Dawning of a New Age.' In it, Dr. King talked about technology. Imagine how forward probing he was when he said, ‘Technology has made us a neighborhood, now we must have technology make us a brotherhood.' Gavin Newsom is doing that in San Francisco, thank you.

"This past year, we lost Rosa Parks. I had the privilege, representing you, to speak at her funeral in Detroit. Imagine the honor that it was. I took strength from our meetings here each year to bring your sympathy and your hope for the future that she inspired for so many men and women.

"I told the crowd that day, ‘I promise you this: we will have a statue to Rosa Parks in the Capital of the United States as soon as possible.' And with the leadership of young Jesse Jackson Jr., the legislation was signed in time for December 1st, the 15th anniversary of the great, courageous acts of Rosa Parks. So when that statue is there, when we have that dedication ceremony, I invite you all to the Capitol. Every person who visits the capital will see her importance, what she meant to our country, and she will be an inspiration to young women and men, for generations to come. Thank you for your support of Rosa Parks, her legacy, as well as the Reverend Martin Luther King.

"At this breakfast every year, I always go to the reoccurring theme in the ‘I Have a Dream' speech, where Reverend King talks about the fierce urgency of now. To talk about what needs to be done, the fierce urgency of now being the time for economic and social justice for all Americans. These words were true then, 43 years ago, and they are true now.

"When Dr. King led the Civil Rights movement, and all that happened after Rosa Parks' courageous acts, he did so in a manner with a commitment to non-violence. He went to India and studied non-violence there. But what I learned recently is that the word in Sanskrit for non-violence also is translated, ‘truth insistence.' Truth insistence. And that's what people were doing when they were at the sit-in, they were insisting on the truth, and the force of truth.

"If that was true and necessary then, it is certainly true and necessary now. We insist on honoring the legacy of Dr. King with truth insistence. Truth on why this country is at war. Insistence on the truth of why we have a budget that makes education more expensive for our college students by $5,800 by giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country. Truth insistence on why we have tax breaks for the wealthiest oil companies when they are making obscene and historic profits while middle-class Americans and other people are paying higher prices at the pump.

"We must insist on the truth when it comes to the Medicare prescription drug bill written by and for the pharmaceutical industry and insurance companies instead of Americans seniors. We must insist on the truth as we follow Dr. King's inspiration. And from it, we are inspired as we pay tribute to those who will be honored here today.

"Let us go forward saying the legacy and success of Dr. King was based on truth. And let us remember that Dr. King's commitment to non-violence was a commitment to the truth. ‘We can go forward facing the rising sun, and our new day begun, let us march on ‘til victory is done!'

"Happy Martin Luther King Day!"

http://democraticleader.house.gov/press/articles.cfm?pressReleaseID=1369