And Still I Rise

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise today to speak truth to power, as well as speak truth about power. I rise to speak truth about what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza.

I rise to ask: What do we call it when we have a group of people who are being denied food and denied the very essence and necessities of life? What do we call it when their homes are being destroyed, when their schools are being destroyed, and when their churches and their infrastructure are being destroyed? What do we call it when we do this to them as a group? We call it collective punishment. It is called collective punishment, Mr. Speaker.

What do we call it when we have a group of people who are being pushed around, pushed from one end of Gaza to the other? What do we call it when they are literally being slaughtered as they are seeking food? What do we call it when people say that they ought to be removed from their land? We call it ethnic cleansing, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what do we call when it appears to me that there is a deliberate and systemic effort to destroy in whole or in part the Palestinian people? What do we call it when we destroy them in whole or in part?

We are witnessing before our very eyes, Mr. Speaker, genocide in Gaza, and we say nothing.

I am amazed at how this country that stands for liberty and justice for all, this country that has a Statue of Liberty, how this country can see what is happening in Gaza and not call it what it is.

There is a fear among us. We refuse to speak truth to power. We refuse to speak truth about power. Today, I am going to do it. I am doing it because these are precious babies that are being slaughtered.

We see the bodies. We see the homes. We see the infrastructure. We say nothing. Who are we? What is wrong with us? What is going on? Here is what is going on.

We have an authoritarian leader who is supporting another authoritarian leader. Our President and the Prime Minister of Israel are working together, and they are doing this. Our President said there would be hell to pay if they did not move or if they did not surrender--not in those exact words, but that was his intentionality. He is talking about the people of Gaza.

I am not talking about Hamas. They did a dastardly deed. What Hamas did can never be justified. They were wrong, but you can't justify what is happening in Israel right now. It is collective punishment. It is ethnic cleansing, and it is genocide.

Mr. President, Donald John Trump, I say to you, Mr. President, you have been trying to hide from this, but, Mr. President, you can't hide. I charge you with genocide.

Mr. Netanyahu, you are the perpetrator. I charge you with genocide.

Also, I want this Congress to know that, yes, I voted against sending any additional monies to Israel for munitions. I voted against it. This genocide is going to continue until we have the courage to say no more--no more money to kill babies, no more money to say you are going to move people and create some sort of riviera on the Mediterranean, no more.

I will not vote for any more money. I stand where I stand. I said what I said, and I mean what I mean.

We cannot, as a great nation, continue to stand silent as we see collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and genocide in Gaza committed against people and children.

We can't stand silent. History will not be kind to us.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source