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Hoyer Remarks at Press Conference During Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage

WASHINGTON, DC – House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered the following remarks at a press conference during the Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage hosted by the Faith and Politics Institute outside of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. Below are excerpts of his remarks:

“Thank you very much, [Congresswoman] Terri [Sewell]. Let me first say, for the residents of this district, to this city, and some of the places in between... You're lucky. You're very fortunate. You have a wonderful Member of the Congress of the United States. … So, I want to thank the people of Alabama and particularly the people of Terri Sewell’s district for sending her to the Congress. She's making such an extraordinary, positive contribution to us.”   “And then I want to say to my friend Joan Mooney, and Joan Mooney, I've known longer than she wants me to tell you, but a significant period of time, and she has worked in Congress. She’s worked in administrations as an Assistant Secretary and she is an extraordinary leader. And Joan, thank you very much for leading what I think is one of the most significant organizations that Members of Congress participate in, we participate in a lot, Faith and Politics.”

“John [Lewis is] with us today. He's with us today in the minds of everybody who's participating. And he's certainly probably the most important reason that we do participate. I've been here on sixteen of these trips, I've walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, with John, and many others, including Joan and Terri, and others, and for half of those I held hands with my brother, John Lewis.”   “John Robert Lewis, otherwise known in his own words as the boy from Troy. I'm a Baptist, I know there are some people in Alabama who are Baptists as well. We believe in revival, renewal, rededication, as so many of you do. I think everybody on this trip believes in that. John said, we come to Selma to be renewed, we come to be inspired, we come to be reminded that we must do the work that justice and equality calls us to do.”   “John Lewis was a giant in the civil rights movement, and a giant in the Congress of the United States. In [a] TIME article, I called him the most Christ-like person I've ever met. That was the depth of his character and his humanity. John Lewis is a hero of America, because John Lewis saw as I did - I guess, I was about 20, 21 - watching what was happening in this square, when kids came out of that church, 16th Street Baptist Church, and were attacked by dogs, by police, by others. We saw the depths of racism and hate displayed, but at the same time, we saw the courage and commitment, not only of those young kids, but of their parents and others who marched not only here, but marched around Alabama and the South.”

“I’d come here because, a) I love John Lewis and I love John Lewis still. And more importantly, he loved me. He loved you. He loved you. He loved all of us. Because like Martin Luther King, he looked on the depths of our humanity as children of God, not as you know, Joe, or Jane or whatever, but as a precious creation of God.”   “That's what Martin Luther King, Jr [said]. And as you heard the story, John heard Martin Luther King Jr. on the radio from Troy, and he went to Atlanta very shortly thereafter, and joined. He said ‘the Bible says, ‘send me’ and that's what John said: ‘send me.’ … Send me to the lions and make a difference for the humanity and values of America. That's why all of our people come here.”   “I want to thank the people of Alabama for welcoming us. None of us are perfect. All of us have to look at how we can make ourselves better and that was the message John Lewis gave. We've done a lot, we've come far, but we have a long way to go. And that's why this renewal, this revival, this rededication to the work that John Lewis, Martin Luther King, and as you said, 1000s of others, unnamed.”   “Just a few days ago, we passed an antilynching bill. … I put it on the Floor, last Congress and this Congress, and it's now pending in the United States Senate and I urge my Senators to stand up and pass that bill…”   “I thank the people of Alabama, I thank Faith and Politics, and I thank Terri Sewell for making sure that we continue on this pilgrimage. John is with us. He's not with us in person. But his soul is in each one of us. Who had the opportunity and the privilege to hold his hand, to hear his voice, to cheer these accomplishments. Thank you.”