[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 384-385]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     REAL LEADERSHIP TACKLES ISSUES

  (Mr. RICHMOND asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to defend an 18-year-old 
school student who expressed his life experiences, and he did it in the 
form of art protected by the First Amendment to our Constitution.
  But what I also want to do is make sure that we, as Members of 
Congress, don't use our bully pulpit in this very prestigious and most 
elite body in the United States to condemn the actions of an 18-year-
old who is only expressing what he sees on a daily basis.
  What real leadership is is to talk to that young man and ask him why, 
in his community, this is his perception; ask him why he fears the 
police; and ask him why, in his neighborhood, they fear the police. We, 
as Members of Congress, understand the sacrifice of law enforcement and 
the fact that they put their lives on the line every day, and we honor 
them.
  But when there is a question on any segment of our society that they 
don't

[[Page 385]]

get equal justice, equal protection of the laws, and that the Pledge of 
Allegiance rings hollow when you say ``and justice for all,'' what real 
leadership does is tackle that issue as opposed to jumping on an 18-
year-old high school student.

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