Lift Every Voice

Floor Speech

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Mr. BELL. Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to say happy birthday to my father, John Bell; happy heavenly birthday to my stepfather, Larry Greer; and happy Founder's Day to the national AME Church and, at home in St. Louis, St. Paul AME Church led by Pastor Spencer Booker.

I rise today humbled and with deep gratitude to deliver my first speech here in these Halls, this living testament to both the promise and the challenges of American governance.

I stand not merely as a Representative in Congress but as a proud son of St. Louis, one who believes in the power of bringing every voice into our shared conversation. It is my mission to ensure that every single person in my district feels seen, heard, and valued.

My first foray into public service was as a city councilman elected in 2015 in a place called Ferguson. In 2018, I was the first African American elected to serve as St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, working with community partners to create the first of its kind diversion advisory committee and connecting nonviolent offenders to substance abuse, opioid, and mental health treatment to address underlying root causes of crime. We also created the first conviction incident review unit in St. Louis County, investigating credible claims of wrongful conviction and police misconduct.

Here I stand, elected to this great House, at a time when the current administration has actively intended to make diversity into scarlet letters and is attempting to rebrand the three letters ``DEI'' into a four-letter curse word.

As we celebrate the lunar new year, we will not forget the contributions of our AANHPI brothers and sisters in atomic science, medicine, and engineering, to name a few.

We will not forget the contributions of our Hispanic and Latino ``brothers and sisters,'' ``hermanos y hermanas,'' in science, music, medicine, and biochemistry, to name a few.

We will not forget our Muslim brothers' and sisters' contributions in education, science, and medicine, to name a few.

Moreover, we will not forget our Jewish brothers' and sisters' many contributions, but more personally to me, the contributions in the civil rights movement from those who bled and died during the Freedom Rides. Rabbis were locked in arms and risked their lives, marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Dr. King and others, like the late John Lewis, who also graced these very same Halls.

As we celebrate Black History Month, I would be remiss if I did not also mention the tremendous contributions of Black folks in building this Nation.

To the current administration, I rise to say directly that Black history is American history; diversity is this Nation's superpower; equity is about fairness and fair play, which all Americans believe in; and inclusion literally refers to all of us.

From slavery to Jim Crow to being denied basic civil rights but still fighting for and believing in the promise of this promised land, it is this land that, despite that history, we still love.

This is evidenced by a song you may hear a lot during this month and in June. It is a song dubbed the Black national anthem. As my esteemed colleague Congressman Clyburn accurately remarked, it is a song everyone can identify with. It is a song not about retribution, as it could have been. It is a song not about hopelessness, as it could be. On the contrary, it is a song about hope, faith, and freedom.

It is a song that does not direct some voices to be lifted, but directs us instead to:

Lift every voice and sing,

Till Earth and Heaven ring;

Ring with the harmonies of liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising Sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on till victory is won.

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