[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1724-1725]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, this Monday, I was honored to stand before 
this Chamber and read George Washington's Farewell Address. This annual 
tradition invites Members of the Senate, as well as the American 
people, to pause and reflect on the wisdom of our first President.
  In this historic text, the father of our country lays out a unique 
view of the Nation he helped to create. It is a testament to the 
American spirit and a tribute to the American people that this country 
has come such a long way since the days of our ancestors.
  Washington's vision was especially poignant to me, having traced my 
personal ancestry back to the days of slavery.
  As I looked out over this Chamber on Monday, I thought about the 
reasons we celebrate each February as Black History Month. This year, 
as Black History Month draws to a close, I cannot help but reflect that 
Washington's address reminds us that Black history and American history 
are inseparable from one another; that the American story cannot be 
distilled into the Black experience and the White experience but that 
both are essential components of the American experience.
  The story of this country is a story of expanding equality and 
opportunity, of people and institutions grappling with social change 
and striving to live up to the promise of a single line in the 
Declaration of Independence which laid out the creed that came to 
define this Nation:

       We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
     created equal. . . .

  With these simple words, a slave owner named Thomas Jefferson laid 
the cornerstone of the free America we know today, even if the noble 
sentiment was not realized for all Americans until more than a century 
later. Although we have seen such injustice--though our journey toward 
freedom and equality is far from over--we can draw great strength from 
the promise that was woven into the fabric of our Nation on the day we 
declared our independence.
  Black History Month is a time to remember those who have taken part 
in every step of that ongoing journey and to celebrate the legacy they 
have left behind for each of us.
  At every moment in our past, African Americans have stood shoulder to 
shoulder with their countrymen from all races, backgrounds, and walks 
of life to help chart our course and define who we are to become: from 
the slaves who laid the very foundation of this Capitol Building to the 
businessmen and entrepreneurs who helped build our modern economy; from 
the ``King'' who dared to dream of an America he would never live to 
see to the President who reached the mountaintop; from the man who was 
born into the bonds of slavery to his great grandson who stands today 
before his peers in the Senate.
  Each of these stories, however ordinary or remarkable, illustrates 
how Black history is woven deeply into the broad canvas of American 
history and why the two are inseparable from one another.
  For me, this reality was brought to life the moment I stood at the 
front of this Chamber and began to read the words that our first 
President wrote to his countrymen more than two centuries ago. Yet it 
was the visionary leadership and high ideals of men such as Washington 
and Jefferson which transcended the prejudice of their times and made 
it possible for later generations to tear those inequalities to the 
ground.
  All Americans have benefited from this profound legacy. We all have 
an interest in preserving the history we share.
  In the closing days of this Black History Month, I urge my colleagues 
to reflect not only on the ways African Americans have contributed to 
American history but also on the ways we can move forward together as 
one Nation, just as Washington calls us to do in his Farewell Address.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.

[[Page 1725]]

  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burris). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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