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" The action of Rosa Parks, the words and leadership of Dr. King inspired me. I was deeply inspired. I wanted to do something. "

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" The press is supposed to serve as a check on government. "

" The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society. "

" When I was 15 years old and in the tenth grade, I heard of Martin Luther King, Jr. Three years later, when I was 18, I met Dr. King and we became friends. Two years after that I became very involved in the civil rights movement. I was in college at that time. As I got more and more involved, I saw politics as a means of bringing about change. "

" Now we have black and white elected officials working together. Today, we have gone beyond just passing laws. Now we have to create a sense that we are one community, one family. Really, we are the American family. "

Working Together

" The vote is precious. It's almost sacred, so go out and vote like you never voted before. "

" When I was growing up in rural Alabama, it was impossible for me to register to vote. I didn't become a registered voter until I moved to Tennessee, to Nashville, as a student. "

" Listening to Dr. King on the radio inspired me. Coming under the influence of Jim Lawson inspired me to think that I, too, could do something. "

" We're one people, and we all live in the same house. Not the American house, but the world house. "

" Sometimes you have to not just dream about what could be - you get out and push and you pull and you preach. And you create a climate and environment to get those in high places, to get men and women of good will in power to act. "

" We need some creative tension; people crying out for the things they want. "

" If someone had told me in 1963 that one day I would be in Congress, I would have said, 'You're crazy. You don't know what you're talking about.' "

" I don't understand it, how President Johnson can send troops to Vietnam and cannot send troops to Selma, Alabama, to protect people whose only desire is to register to vote. "

" Sometimes I feel like crying, tears of happiness, tears of joy, to see the distance we've come and the progress we've made. "

" Selma was the turning point. "

" Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Never lose that sense of hope. "

" The vote controls everything that you do. "

" To make it hard, to make it difficult almost impossible for people to cast a vote is not in keeping with the democratic process. "

" Black men and women were not allowed to register to vote. My own mother, my own father, my grandfather and my uncles and aunts could not register to vote because each time they attempted to register to vote, they were told they could not pass the literacy test. "

" It was not enough to come and listen to a great sermon or message every Sunday morning and be confined to those four walls and those four corners. You had to get out and do something. "

" 1963, because of the sense of moral authority that the civil rights movement had, we were able to get people to respond, because of the quality of our demand and our sense of moral authority. "

" The party of Kennedy is also the party of Eastland. The party of Javits is also the party of Goldwater. "

" We are one people with one family. We all live in the same house... and through books, through information, we must find a way to say to people that we must lay down the burden of hate. For hate is too heavy a burden to bear. "

" I don't think Trump really believes in all this stuff. But he thinks this would be his ticket to the White House - at least to get the Republican nomination. "

" Early on, I wrote a letter to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was 17. I felt called, moved. "

" I grew up very poor in rural Alabama. "

" The civil rights movement was based on faith. Many of us who were participants in this movement saw our involvement as an extension of our faith. We saw ourselves doing the work of the Almighty. Segregation and racial discrimination were not in keeping with our faith, so we had to do something. "

" If you're not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take the long hard look and just believe that if you're consistent, you will succeed. "

" You have to go with your gut sometimes, and how you feel. "

" We need comprehensive immigration reform. Dr. King wouldn't be pleased at all to know that there are millions of people living in the shadow, living in fear in places like Georgia and Alabama. "

" I'm very hopeful. I am very optimistic about the future. "