[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 27, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H1320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1815
                 HOPE IN THE WAKE OF SENSELESS TRAGEDY

  (Mr. GOMEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about something that gives me 
hope in the wake of the senseless tragedies and attacks on our 
communities: the power of students to change the course of history.
  Fifty years ago this week, 15,000 students in East Los Angeles rose 
up in solidarity to demand culturally relevant education, better 
facilities, and diverse teachers. I rise in honor of those students 
from Wilson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Belmont High Schools, who started 
a movement that would be known as the East Los Angeles walkouts.
  I also rise in honor of current student activists everywhere. Student 
activism has always been a powerful response to social injustice, that 
when those in power fail to listen or to act in the interests of all 
people, it is time for a new generation of Americans to speak up, walk 
out, and organize.
  Whether you were in East Los Angeles in 1968 or in Parkland, Florida, 
in 2018, you will be heard, you will be remembered, and you will become 
the change that we all seek.

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