[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 17, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H5981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY, NOT BIGOTRY AND DISCRIMINATION

  (Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I am a Congressman in no small part due to 
civil rights legislation: the ADA that passed 29 years ago next week. 
Inclusivity is not abstract to me. Diversity is not just a buzzword.
  This weekend, our Nation confronted bigotry and discrimination, the 
vile opposites of these virtues. That we did so is not surprising. Our 
country is not perfect, built as it is on the original sin of slavery, 
but the source of these racist remarks should shock all of my 
colleagues, as they came from the President himself.
  The President's tweets attacking my fellow Representatives is 
inexcusable. There is no explanation, no possible context in which they 
would be acceptable. They are the product of his world view that prizes 
division and conflict.
  I believe in compromise. I believe in trying to work together to 
better our country even when we disagree, but that spirit of tolerance 
cannot extend to the blatantly racist and xenophobic rhetoric.
  I voted yesterday to condemn the President's remarks, but that should 
never have been necessary. Our country is better than the example this 
President is setting. I only hope that we can heal after this dark 
chapter.

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