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Floor Speech

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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because in light of the President's January 6 pardons, someone has to stand up for the people who defend this building, who defend the Representatives of the United States of America, and who defend this magnificent institution. I thank my esteemed colleague, Congressman Himes, for reserving this Special Order hour because it is time that truth speaks.

Just the other day at the beginning of this week, the members of the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police protected us once again as we engaged in inauguration ceremonies of the 47th President of the United States of America. The irony is that while they were protecting us, the Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Government was preparing to undermine the spirit and the substance of that protection.

The very idea of pardoning people who violently attack police officers who were protecting the United States Capitol is anathema and should be offensive to every Member of this body. I simply cannot think of a more disgraceful act than to disrespect the life and blood and legacy of the men and women of the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police who in some cases literally gave their lives to protect this institution and us as Representatives.

To pardon people who relished and participated in acts of political violence that led to the death of innocent people is something that cannot be and should not be overlooked. It cannot be explained away nor can it be facilitated by politics and regular parliamentary procedure.

What the 47th President of the United States has done in pardoning the people who attacked the police officers is simply wrong. I echo the words of my dear colleague, Congressman Costa. We have been taught right versus wrong. Every Member of my esteemed party and Members on the opposite aisle should join us in raising their voice. We are setting a precedent. We should know and we should call out when character counts.

It is offensive, to say nothing of the fact that it is a violation of the moral law that makes this country one of the finest flowers in the gardens of the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell the members of law enforcement who protect this building and who protect our lives that the Members of the Democratic Party see them. We understand them, and we respect them. We respect their character.

We are ashamed at the behavior of this institution. We are ashamed at the behavior of the 47th President of the United States of America. We are ashamed that our officers have been disgraced and humiliated while they come here to protect us every day. We have not afforded them the same protection that they give us every day.

We honor them. We respect them with giving them this hour to tell them that we have not forgotten those that have given their full measure of their duty to this country to protect us and to ensure that this democracy goes forward, even as they have been betrayed.

We do not support the unsolicited and unwarranted disrespect extended to them by the President of the United States of America. There were quotes given by Reverend Martin Luther King the other day. There is one quote I would like to share:

``Expediency asks the question, `Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, `Is it popular?' But conscience asks the question, `Is it right?' ''

There comes a time that we must take a position that is neither with politics nor does it have to be popular. We must ask the question that conscience raises: Is it right?

At some point, we have to stop functioning in this building as if political parties are the only thing that matters. At some point, we have to summon the courage to do what is right, even when it is not necessarily politically expedient. This is one of those times.

What happened on January 6 was violent. What happened on January 6 was a disgrace to the men and women who serve this institution honorably. Anybody who tries to make it out to be anything other than that, than actually what it was, is lying about what we saw with our very own eyes.

We shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us all free. How can we go forward if we cannot go forward in the truth? No lie can live forever.

The election of 2020 had been decided. The people who came here on January 6--that was not a day that most people in American history know what procedurally happens here. What happens here was supposed to be the transfer of power with the electoral college votes that we ceremoniously pass.

No, people were summoned. People were called. Who called them? What were they called to do? They came here and built a noose and gallows outside to hang the Vice President of the United States of America.

We sit here in silence? We act like it never happened?

What concerns me most now is that we are sowing the seeds for future anarchists. We are sowing the seeds for future insurrectionists. We are sowing the seeds for future levels of violence.

I would remind my colleagues that history is watching, the future is listening, and our children are observing everything that we do.

Before we get up and speak recklessly about a mob that violently attacked police officers, we would all be wise to consider how our words will age in years to come and whether future generations will condemn what we said or that we remained silent about this issue.

Mr. Speaker, the reality is no lie can, will, or shall live forever. Whether today or tomorrow or whether in days or decades to come, truth will have its day. We shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free.

Let us work to do what is right, even when it is hard. Let us affirm what is good, even when it is politically dangerous.

Just yesterday, in this same Chamber where the officers were defending us, insurrectionists of January 6 came in here and sat up in the gallery.

Just this past week, there were 32 miles of fencing all around our beautiful Capitol.

If we had known then what we know now, police should have had the day off so these people could have roamed this building freely. That was their intent, to destroy and kill.

The constitutional ideals that make this Nation as good as its promise are what each of us should be in service to do. When history calls, we must be available to something greater than ourselves.

I pray that we will answer this call. I pray we will not dishonor what is right. I pray we will stand up for those who consistently stand up for us.

I take a point of privilege to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to those officers who came to work on that dreadful day to do what was right and normal and moral but who had been betrayed.

Reverend Martin Luther King also said there comes a time when silence is betrayal. I feel that many of our officers have been betrayed.

We can fix this. We can stand up. We can speak up. We cannot betray the legacy of those officers who have been slain, violently killed. They did not give their life. Their life was taken from them. They should be with their loved ones today. Let us not curse their memory by not erecting a statue and a monument to their brave souls.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say a very special thank-you to my colleague, Congressman Himes, for having the courage and the fortitude to stand up. Let the record reflect in years to come that we did our best to make sure we honored our commitment to this country.

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