Congressional Progressive Caucus: Confederate Flag

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, the distinguished gentlewoman from California introduced a privileged resolution, not too different from the one my friend and colleague Mr. Thompson brought to the floor just last week. Mr. Speaker, that resolution called for the immediate removal of the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol grounds. And my colleagues across the aisle moved quickly to banish that resolution to die in committee.

Earlier today, the original home of the Confederacy argued, but agreed, that the Confederate flag and the history it represents belong in a museum. They decided that the flag should not serve as a bright, waving reminder of the discrimination and disparity of treatment for people of color that still lingers in communities across our country--hateful sentiments that resulted in the loss of nine lives at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

They decided that that flag should not hang high above the halls of State government, forcing all those who see it to wonder whether the emotions and ideology so closely tied to it are present in the hearts and minds of those who serve in that statehouse.

They decided that the flag had flown long enough, and that taking it down would be one small but critical step in healing the deep divisions present in their State.

They stood against the symbol of bigotry, they stood against years of complacency, and they stood for the principles of equality, justice, and unity for this Nation. They will take that flag down tomorrow.

But Republican leadership in this body refuses to do that. They took the path of cowardice and turned a blind eye to the struggles of generations of Americans. They used backhanded tactics last night to muddle the language of the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, including language intended to satisfy Members who would rather see that flag fly.

The fallout from that language led to the disappearance of that bill from today's scheduled debate and resulted in the chairman of that subcommittee disowning the final product.

Leader Pelosi's resolution offered another opportunity for my colleagues across the aisle to stand on the right side of history, but they turned that chance down resoundingly.

Mr. Speaker, let's not mince words. While I stand with my brothers and sisters of the South, the Confederacy itself fell far below even common decency for fellow man, violating human rights and taking advantage of every part of the lives of the men and women they enslaved, sometimes for profit and sometimes purely for pleasure.

The Confederacy used extreme violence and terrorism to subjugate millions purely on the basis of the color of their skin, and started the deadliest war ever to take place on U.S. soil to defend a disgraceful system. That flag is a symbol of the Confederacy's effort to keep that system intact. That is why, Mr. Speaker, before the holiday, I stood in this very spot on the floor to denounce the hate, bigotry, malice, discrimination, and division that the Confederate flag stands for.

But I also reminded my colleagues that a symbol, while significant, is only a stand-in for something far stronger. A symbol will never have the strength of a bullet fired from the barrel of a policeman's gun at an unarmed Black man because of ingrained bias. A symbol will never have the impact of a prison sentence that permanently prevents a young person from becoming a full-fledged member of society, a fate far more likely to befall a person of color. A symbol will never eradicate Black and Latino wealth like the predatory loan structures that put their homes underwater in a recession at rates that dwarfed their White peers.

But if we are not even willing to get rid of a symbol, as this body has so clearly expressed its disinterest in doing, how can we possibly move on to the real underlying problems, issues like education for young people, affordable housing, and access and training for jobs.

Removing a symbol is an easy thing to do, an easy thing that would have signaled one country, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Today, Republican Members across the aisle did more than just stand up for that symbol of hate and that symbol of degradation. These Members treated me and those issues that are vitally important and extremely sensitive to me in a manner that was both disrespectful, insensitive, and very hurtful, Mr. Speaker.

Nonetheless, this will not go away. We will continue to raise this issue every day that it is needed, every week that it is needed, every month that it is needed, until my colleagues can recognize that a simple act of decency, the removal of this symbol of hate and disrespect and slavery, a mark on our history that needs to be removed.

Once we do that, Mr. Speaker, once we do that simple, little thing, and that is to stand together in taking down that ugly symbol that that flag represents, then we will be able to get on with the serious and important work that needs to be done to lift up this economy on behalf of all people.

That will be education for all people, and higher education that is affordable for all people, Mr. Speaker. It will be affordable housing. It will be jobs and job training. It will be adequate preschool programs and afterschool programs. It will be recreation programs and character-building programs.

It will be safe communities. It will be equal opportunity for all because that is the country that we live in, and that is the reason that we have this Congress, and that is the reason that I am here.

I, for one, will not be silent on this issue until we see this change that the 21st century demands.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. I thank the gentlewoman from California for sharing her wisdom with us and her encouragement.

Mr. Speaker, I really am touched by what we experienced in Charleston, South Carolina, the kind of grace and mercy that the families of those who were felled by this domestic terrorist on the church in Charleston, South Carolina.

I know that, even in this Chamber, there are friends that I have across the aisle who would gladly vote with me and vote with my colleagues to remove that flag and that imagery and that symbolism from any of our government properties if they would simply be given the chance.

In honor and respect of the loss of life and the grace and mercy and the healing and forgiveness that was demonstrated by the families of those who lost their lives in Charleston, South Carolina, and in recognition of the courageous steps that the South Carolinians did in voting to take down that flag and for the Governor to sign that and to watch, tomorrow, when history is being made, to take down that flag, I pray that our House is given the opportunity to vote our conscience because I know that I have colleagues on the other side of the aisle that feel the same way that I do, that believe in the greatness of this country and that believe in justice and liberty for all and believe that those symbols that remind us of the mistakes that we have made belong in the annals of history, to be remembered, but never to be repeated.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source