[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 27 (Monday, February 10, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            LIFT EVERY VOICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Bell) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BELL. Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to say happy birthday to 
my father, John Bell; happy heavenly birthday to my stepfather, Larry 
Greer; and happy Founder's Day to the national AME Church and, at home 
in St. Louis, St. Paul AME Church led by Pastor Spencer Booker.
  I rise today humbled and with deep gratitude to deliver my first 
speech here in these Halls, this living testament to both the promise 
and the challenges of American governance.
  I stand not merely as a Representative in Congress but as a proud son 
of St. Louis, one who believes in the power of bringing every voice 
into our shared conversation. It is my mission to ensure that every 
single person in my district feels seen, heard, and valued.
  My first foray into public service was as a city councilman elected 
in 2015 in a place called Ferguson. In 2018, I was the first African 
American elected to serve as St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, 
working with community partners to create the first of its kind 
diversion advisory committee and connecting nonviolent offenders to 
substance abuse, opioid, and mental health treatment to address 
underlying root causes of crime. We also created the first conviction 
incident review unit in St. Louis County, investigating credible claims 
of wrongful conviction and police misconduct.
  Here I stand, elected to this great House, at a time when the current 
administration has actively intended to make diversity into scarlet 
letters and is attempting to rebrand the three letters ``DEI'' into a 
four-letter curse word.
  As we celebrate the lunar new year, we will not forget the 
contributions of our AANHPI brothers and sisters in atomic science, 
medicine, and engineering, to name a few.
  We will not forget the contributions of our Hispanic and Latino 
``brothers and sisters,'' ``hermanos y hermanas,'' in science, music, 
medicine, and biochemistry, to name a few.
  We will not forget our Muslim brothers' and sisters' contributions in 
education, science, and medicine, to name a few.
  Moreover, we will not forget our Jewish brothers' and sisters' many 
contributions, but more personally to me, the contributions in the 
civil rights movement from those who bled and died during the Freedom 
Rides. Rabbis were locked in arms and risked their lives, marching 
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Dr. King and others, like the late 
John Lewis, who also graced these very same Halls.
  As we celebrate Black History Month, I would be remiss if I did not 
also mention the tremendous contributions of Black folks in building 
this Nation.
  To the current administration, I rise to say directly that Black 
history is American history; diversity is this Nation's superpower; 
equity is about fairness and fair play, which all Americans believe in; 
and inclusion literally refers to all of us.
  From slavery to Jim Crow to being denied basic civil rights but still 
fighting for and believing in the promise of this promised land, it is 
this land that, despite that history, we still love.
  This is evidenced by a song you may hear a lot during this month and 
in June. It is a song dubbed the Black national anthem. As my esteemed 
colleague Congressman Clyburn accurately remarked, it is a song 
everyone can identify with. It is a song not about retribution, as it 
could have been. It is a song not about hopelessness, as it could be. 
On the contrary, it is a song about hope, faith, and freedom.
  It is a song that does not direct some voices to be lifted, but 
directs us instead to:
  Lift every voice and sing,
  Till Earth and Heaven ring;
  Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
  Let our rejoicing rise
  High as the listening skies,
  Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
  Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
  Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
  Facing the rising Sun of our new day begun,
  Let us march on till victory is won.

                          ____________________