[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 199 (Thursday, December 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H14900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           I TOO HAVE A DREAM

  (Mr. JACKSON of Illinois asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker and distinguished Members of the 
House, I am honored to be a servant of this body.
  I want to thank God, who has called our family to public service and 
blessed me with the ability and the will to serve. It is faith in God 
and the strength of my family that made this exalted position of 
service possible. The Rainbow Coalition gave me the opportunity to 
serve and grow. We must expand the Rainbow Spirit across the land. We 
must let a new generation arise. I want to thank and acknowledge my 
family--my wife Sandi, my parents, Rev. and Mrs. Jesse Jackson, my 
sister Santita, my brother Jonathan and his wife Marilyn, Yusef, and 
little Jackie, Grandma and Grandpa Brown, my grandmother Matilda Burns 
and Helen Jackson, who could not be present.
  My ambition and my focus is clear. I want to do God's will, and I 
believe it to be His will that we lift the lot of suffering humanity. 
Where there are walls that divide, we must build bridges and bring 
peace to a war torn world, whether Bosnia or Nigeria.
  I want to honor the citizens of the Second Congressional District of 
Illinois who entrusted me to represent them, to make the best case 
possible to improve the quality of life for all of them. For those who 
voted for me, and those who did not, for those who were too young to 
vote, and for those who've given up on the vote, because they no longer 
dream or believe, that change will come.
  I promised the seniors of my district that I would fight to save 
their Medicare, and the youth of my district to save their 
scholarships. I promised to fight for affordable housing, to uplife the 
conditions of people in Altgeld Gardens, Ginger Ridge, Ford Heights, 
and the many communities across my district, where living conditions 
have not changed in two generations. They are not lazy, or welfare 
kings or queens, they want to work, but they need the opportunity to 
work.
  Last, I want to be a public servant who is mostly known as a freedom 
fighter of character in the best tradition of Jesus The Christ, Martin 
Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and my dad, Jesse Jackson, Sr. Our 
character is measured by how we treat the least of these. I will fight 
with all of my might for a public policy that will wipe out 
malnutrition and save the malnourished. A public policy of full 
employment, healthcare, housing, and an education safety net for all of 
the American people. I want to defend the defenseless. I want them to 
dream again and stop recycling nightmares. We must choose schools 
instead of jails for our future. Let the children dream. Let the 
seniors dream again. Let them hope. Let them believe. Revive their 
spirits. Let all of us hope.
  I look forward to learning from you and to working with you. 
Together, we must make the American Dream possible for all of America's 
people. Thank you.
  [The following portion was delivered in both English and Spanish.]
  Mr. Speaker, in the time I have left, I would like to say that I 
share a dream, and I called it ``I Too Have a Dream:''
  That the southside will look like the northside.
  That Rainbow Beach will look like North Avenue Beach.
  That the Dusable Museum will be funded like the Field Museum.
  That southside and suburban children will receive funding like the 
northside for parks, zoos, restaurants and piers with ferris wheels.
  That equal funding for education will be a reality in this 
generation.
  That more county money will be used for preschool and afternoon 
school programs than incarceration programs.
  It is my hope that I can look forward to working with Members of 
Congress, and working with each and every one of you. Together, we must 
make the American dream possible for all of Americans, for America's 
people.
  Thank you, and God bless you all.

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