Congressional Black Caucus

Floor Speech

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, we are here tonight to have an important conversation, a conversation that is long overdue, a conversation that is crucial to healing America's deep racial wounds, our topic being the Confederate battle flag and why racial symbols matter.

The Charleston 9 killings focused many of our attention on the significant appropriateness and bigoted history of this flag. In 2015, why do so many still revere a flag that tolerated the shackling of people because of their skin, a flag that allowed human beings to be counted as three-fifths of a person, a flag that was flown during lynchings, the holding of children, and one that symbolized a movement to deny education and equal treatment under our laws?

Fifty years since Selma, we think of the Freedom Riders, marchers, boycotters, protesters, and policymakers who pointed our Nation in a more positive direction. They knew it was time to reject the traditions of the past.

The civil rights movement symbolized the quest of equality and a change in mood for America. Thousands from all backgrounds had the courage to join in peaceful protests, lunch counter sit-ins, and boycotts at the expense of being jailed, beaten, or killed. They did this for one Nation and one flag.

And in the way of these Americans stood those who believed in the perseverance of inequality, who believed in an America of White and colored, an America of two flags, and the Confederate battle flag represented their America.

Jim Crow America saw States that seceded from the Union, reacting to the growth of the civil rights movement, with the use of the Confederate battle flag as the representation of their resistant movement.

In 1956, the State of Georgia incorporated the battle flag into its official State flag design. The movement continued into the sixties, where it met renewed and intensified opposition, opposition that waved the Confederate battle flag in the name of continued racial oppression.

In 1961, just 2 months after the sentencing of nine students arrested for a lunch counter sit-in in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the Confederate battle flag was raised over South Carolina's State house during a centennial celebration of the Civil War's opening.

That same year, in neighboring Georgia, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were the first two African American students to be admitted to the University of Georgia. Their admission only came after a court order sent from Federal court.

Eleven days after arriving on campus, Hunter and Holmes were attacked by a mob of White rioters who threw rocks and bottles at them while waving the rebel flag. The attacks were so fierce that the dean of students suspended both Hunter and Holmes for their own safety.

Now, even with me highlighting this violence, we are told that the stars and bars are about heritage. That heritage, Mr. Speaker, is not so subtle a reminder to African Americans that they are less than--maybe not three-fifths of a person, but still not equal.

This is a reminder that there are two classes of citizens. And despite our Declaration of Independence clearly stating that all men are created equal, this is a reminder that there is a lesser class and will never be equal.

But why are we honoring the heritage and flag of the hooded night riders of the Klan at our State houses and in this Congress instead of the flag of the Freedom Riders who died for a single, fair, and equal America?

Two years after Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his ``I have dream'' speech before 600 civil rights marchers, including our friend and colleague from Georgia, Congressman John Lewis, a different group of civil rights heroes were greeted by police officers in Selma, Alabama, proudly displaying the Confederate flag on the side of their helmets.

These officers brutally beat the marchers, and their actions were a reminder that Dr. King's speech had not yet resonated in the hearts of those who needed to hear it most.

But it was the undeterred resilience of the protesters who refused to back down and refused to resort to violence that persevered. It was the love, the respect, and the mutual understanding that displayed what was the strongest symbol of strength, honor, and heritage than the Confederate battle flag.

Mr. Speaker, we have come a long way since 1965, but we still have a ways to go. We must move forward. The needed progress, however, will not come if the Federal Government continues to provide American citizens with reminders of our hateful and oppressive past in a manner that legitimizes such hate.

I am glad to host this important Special Order hour with my colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) to talk about where we go from here and why we continue to give energy to symbols of hate and division.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Thank you, Congressman Butterfield, for those fine words. Many questions, many questions: Why are they still holding on? Is it just heritage and tradition? Or is it something more?

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Thank you, Congresswoman HOLMES. I am so glad that you and Congressman Payne brought up the issue of the gun because we cannot forget that either. I look at Charleston as when racism and hate found the gun.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Thank you so much, Congressman Green, for your words, your passion, and your call to action.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for participating tonight. Symbols of the Confederacy have been an inescapable and often haunting part of life in many Southern States. Every day the Confederate flag is flown proudly in front yards, worn on T-shirts, and you will find them on pickup trucks, and that is the right that folks have.

Many argue this is a symbol of Southern history, tradition, and honor. I would argue against the merits of that. After all, what are we proudly honoring and looking upon nostalgically? The Confederate flag represents a dark time in our Nation's history, full of pain, suffering, and loss.

Why do we allow the mascot of terrorist groups to fly high on the government grounds? Would we permit ISIS the luxury of putting their symbols on our Federal grounds? In modern society, people have made a decision to eradicate materials that do not represent our country's core values: the value of inclusion, the value of nondiscrimination, and the value that our Nation can be the beacon of hope for everyone regardless of the color of their skin.

The institution of slavery destroyed families, killed millions, and formed the beginning of a systemic inequality faced by African Americans today. That is what the Confederacy sought to preserve when it seceded from our great Nation. Every time a Confederate flag flies, whether it is the intent of the owner or not, that is what is being celebrated.

Mr. Speaker, we need to take down the flag and we also need to have a serious conversation about gun violence. On behalf of Congressman Payne and me, I yield back the balance of my time.

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