[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 77 (Thursday, May 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H3686-H3687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       COMMENTS OF MR. RAND PAUL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise because I love America. No 
one loves the Constitution more than I. No one recites the Pledge of 
Allegiance with greater spirit than I. No one loves the Declaration of 
Independence more than I.
  I must tell you, Mr. Speaker, that I was shocked last night beyond 
belief

[[Page H3687]]

when I heard the comments of a person who has been nominated for the 
Senate of the United States of America. I heard the comments of one Mr. 
Rand Paul, and his comments were shocking because his comments caused 
me to reflect on a bygone era that I would hate to see us return to.
  You see, Mr. Speaker, I have sat in the back of the bus even when 
there were seats available up near the front. I have had to go to the 
backdoor to get my food even when there was a facility with no one 
inside. I have had to drink my water from colored water fountains even 
when there were other water fountains available, and we had to have a 
line to go to the colored water fountain. I have had to suffer the 
indignation and humiliation that segregation imposes upon a person.
  I was shocked because I could not believe that a person nominated for 
the Senate of the United States of America could not say that he would 
support continuing what we have already fought for and won, and that 
is, to have persons of color go in the front door at a private 
facility.
  I was shocked. I am still shocked. And I come before this House today 
not to condemn the person. I don't condemn people, but I do condemn 
what they do. I condemn what they say.
  I come before this House today not to condemn him but, rather, to 
give him the opportunity to explain himself. And I admonish him that if 
he does not explain himself, others will explain his position. Either 
he will explain his position or others will do it for him. I believe 
that he should explain it, and he should do it with words that are as 
conspicuously clear as possible, because what he has said is painful to 
those of us who had to endure these indignations and these 
humiliations.
  I was one of those persons who grew up in the 1960s. I know what it 
is like to have to do the things that we would have to revisit should 
he have his way, based upon what I have heard. But maybe he was not 
given a fair opportunity, and there is time now for him to do for 
himself what others will do for him if he does not.

  I do not know the person who hosts the show ``Morning Joe,'' but I 
think that he made a significant point. He said that he has 24 hours to 
explain himself.
  I accept the 24-hour pronouncement, and I beg that, within the next 
24 hours, that he will explain himself so that we will not 
misunderstand that on one hand he says he would march with Dr. King 
but, on the other hand, he does not say that he would allow me, a 
Member of the House of Representatives in the greatest country in the 
world, to continue to enter the front door of a private business.
  It is a painful revelation. It is a past that we don't like talking 
about, but it is a past that I had to suffer and live through. And I 
beg that my colleagues understand that this is no attempt to defeat him 
in his election. That is for the people of Kentucky.
  But there is an attempt to give a person the opportunity to speak up, 
to stand up and stand for what this country has made possible by virtue 
of the great and noble ideals presented in the Declaration of 
Independence: All persons are created equal and endowed by their 
Creator with certain unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit 
of happiness.
  I beg that the gentleman will honor my request.

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