[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 1, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING THE LIFE OF REPRESENTATIVE RAUL GRIJALVA

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. ILHAN OMAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 31, 2025

  Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of 
the late Congressman Raul Grijalva.
  Raul was one of was one of my dear friends in Congress and someone 
who I looked up to as a model for what real progressive leadership 
looked like.
  He was a legend for the Chicano activism of his youth, and a 
trailblazer who started his career in public service as a community 
organizer and activist.
  From his time on the school board to the County Board of Supervisors 
to the halls of Congress--Raul was always a voice for the voiceless.
  He left such a profound legacy on Tucson's school board that an 
elementary school was named after him years before he ever got elected 
to Congress.
  He was a fighter for working families his entire life and used every 
ounce of grit to deliver for his beloved community every day he was in 
office.
  He was a fighter for working families his entire life and used every 
ounce of grit to deliver for his beloved community every day he was in 
office.
  He was an uncompromising champion of the environment, of bilingual 
education, of the rights of immigrants, and of the rights of Native 
Americans.
  He was also a genuine human being to the very last, committed to what 
he believed in, who never let the petty politics of the day make him 
cynical, or hard, or mean.
  I am grateful for his commitment and unwavering courage that he used 
to make our country better.
  I will miss him greatly.
  I am sending love and light to his family, Ramona, Adelita, Marisa, 
and Raquel, his staff, and all who loved him.

                          ____________________