[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11108-11109]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                THE CONFEDERATE FLAG, A SYMBOL OF PRIDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Iowa 
(Mr. King) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to 
address you here on the floor of the House of Representatives and being 
recognized.
  I have been listening to this debate over the last week or so, and it 
has troubled me considerably to watch divisions being driven between 
the American people over symbolism that has now been redefined by a lot 
of Members of the opposite party.
  I regret, like all of us do in this country, the tragic and brutal 
and evil murders of the nine people in Charleston, South Carolina. I 
pray for them and their families. They stood up and showed us an 
example of faith that I think surpasses any that I have seen in my 
lifetime by forgiving the killer.
  I am not to that point in my faith, Mr. Speaker, the least that I can 
tell, but that was very moving. They didn't want to see a division 
created, they wanted to heal, and they wanted to see Christ's love come 
out of Charleston.
  Charleston is a wonderful and beautiful city, and I don't know where 
I would go to find nicer people if I couldn't go actually home, Mr. 
Speaker, so I couldn't say enough good about that.
  I have listened to this rhetoric that has poured forth over these 
days. It appears to me that it is now being turned into something that 
is division, rather than unifying.
  We unified in our grief with the people of South Carolina, the people 
of Charleston. Now, we are seeing the Confederate battle flag be put up 
as a symbol to be redefined as something different than is understood 
by the majority of the American people.

                              {time}  1130

  I grew up in the North, Mr. Speaker, and the Confederate flag always 
was a symbol of the pride of the South from where I grew up. My family 
and my predecessors and my ancestors were abolitionists, and they went 
to war to put an end to slavery.
  Mr. Speaker, I have now in my hand a leather-bound New Testament 
Bible that was carried in the shirt pocket of my great uncle, John 
Richardson, and it is written inside here. It was presented to him on 
the eve of his departure for the war in July of 1862.
  He walked home 3 years to the day with this Bible in his shirt 
pocket, it having protected him. It has fly specks on it from laying 
open by the campfire. It has verses that are written in it. I have 
found his picture, his musket, his bayonet, his belt buckle, and his 
ink file.
  That is what is left of this man who committed himself to putting an 
end to slavery. Yet, his cousin, my five times great-grandfather, was 
killed in that effort. Many gave their lives to put an end to slavery.
  I was standing before the Lincoln Memorial, reading his second 
Inaugural Address, and I will read that into the Record, Mr. Speaker. 
This component is from Lincoln's second Inaugural Address of March 4, 
1865, when he said:

       Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty 
     scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that 
     it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 250 
     years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop 
     of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn 
     with the sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must 
     be said: ``The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
     altogether.''

  Mr. Speaker, these are not disputed numbers. The numbers of Americans 
who were killed putting an end to slavery and saving the Union: 
600,000.
  Another number not disputed is the number of Black Africans who were 
brought to what is now the United States to be slaves: 600,000. I take 
you back to the words ``until every drop of blood drawn with the lash 
shall be paid by another drawn with the sword . . . `The judgments of 
the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'''
  A huge price has been paid. It has been paid primarily by Caucasian 
Christians. There are many who stepped up because they profoundly 
believed that they needed to put an end to slavery.
  This country has put this behind us. It has been through this brutal 
and bloody battle. We have come back together for the Reconstruction, 
and we have healed this country together. I regret deeply that we are 
watching this country be divided again over a symbol of a free country.
  When I go to Germany and see that they have outlawed the swastika, I 
look at them and I think: We have a First Amendment. That can't happen 
here in the United States because we are open enough. We have to 
tolerate the desecration of Old Glory, the American flag.
  Yet, we have people here on the floor who say they are offended by a 
symbol. They are the ones who are putting it up for all to see, and 
then they are saying that we should outlaw that so the American people 
don't have a chance to see our heritage.
  Everything about America's history is not glorious. Everything about 
our history is not right in our judgment, looking back in hindsight, 
but none of us know what it was like for the people who lived during 
that time, in that era.
  We can accept our history. We can be proud of our history. We can 
unify our country. We can grieve for those who were murdered, and we 
can preserve our First Amendment rights.

[[Page 11109]]



                          ____________________