[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11111]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              CONFEDERATE FLAG DOES NOT REPRESENT AMERICA

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, we have children to educate, and we 
have children to love and to have them to understand what America is 
all about. We are southerners and northerners. We come from the East 
and the West. We love our cooking, we love our culture, but we are 
Americans. So today I ask this body to allow us to debate this question 
to a resolution that enhances American unity.
  The Supreme Court issued a statement in Walker v. Sons of Confederate 
Veterans, a Texas case. Before the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, 
early on, as just a civilian, I argued against Confederate license 
plates. We won that case. The Supreme Court said that public speech 
that offends or oppresses is not allowed.
  I am not talking about the flag on your car or your home, but I am 
saying that this rebel flag does not represent America, does not teach 
our children, and it does not heal. And I would offer to say that we 
are long overdue for a debate like that in the senate in South 
Carolina, to follow Reverend Pinckney's words that we have to know how 
to break the cycle and of a roadway toward a better world. He knew that 
a path of greatness involves an open mind, but more importantly, an 
open heart.
  I hope we can debate H. Res. 342, which enhances the unity of our 
country, not this flag.

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