Seminal Moments in Time

Floor Speech

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there are seminal moments in time.

The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a seminal moment in time that will live in infamy. The crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge was a seminal moment in time that will live in history. It was a turning point in the civil rights/human rights movement.

There are seminal moments in time.

The House of Representatives confronts a seminal moment in time. Will we allow the healing to continue or will we try to roll back the clock?

There are seminal moments in time.

If we take this vote--and I hope that we will not, and there is an indication that we may not--the taking of the vote, in and of itself, can be a seminal moment in time.

A vote to legitimize the Confederate flag--the battle flag--would be a seminal moment in time for the United

States House of Representatives--a flag that represents slavery, a flag that represents division.
We have come together in this country under a flag that represents unity, one that stands for liberty and justice for all, the flag of the United States of America. This is not that flag.

We confront seminal moments in time.

In South Carolina, the South Carolina Senate and House of Representatives stood tall when confronting a seminal moment in time, and the Confederate battle flag will be removed.

I was so proud to hear a relative, a descendant, of Jefferson Davis take to the floor of the House of Representatives in South Carolina and proclaim that the flag must come down.

Seminal moments in time.

We have our opportunity to do that which is right, to do what Dr. King talked about when he said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

We can bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice or we can turn back the clock, understanding that this is a symbol that causes a lot of pain for a lot of people. This symbol would have prevented my having the opportunity to stand here if it had prevailed.

I call upon all people of goodwill to please do the righteous thing, not just the right thing--do the righteous thing.

How can you possibly vote for this after you saw the relatives of the nine who were killed stand in court before a judge and before the person who was the assailant--the person who actually killed people--and say, ``I forgive you''? We have forgiven those who have fought to enslave us. We have forgiven.

I forgive you.

How could you possibly now decide that you will legitimize this symbol of hatred, of slavery, of a bygone era of a time when people were not even proclaimed to be human beings in the minds of many?

So this is a great opportunity for this House of Representatives to answer the clarion call of justice and to do as Dr. King indicated, to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice.

But it is also something else. It is an opportunity to see where we are.

There will be a moment in time beyond this time when someone will look back upon these moments and he will look to see where we stood.

Where did you stand when you had the chance to stand for righteousness? Where were you when you had an opportunity to vote to recognize justice as opposed to the injustice associated with this symbol?

C.A. Tindley was right. So I will leave you with these words:

Harder yet may be the fight; right may often yield to might. Wickedness awhile may seem to reign; Satan's cause may seem to gain. There is a God that rules above with the hand of power and a heart of love. When we are right, He will help us fight.

I stand against this symbol. I stand for the American flag. I stand for justice.

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