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" Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote. "

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" I am very, very hopeful about the American South - I believe that we will lead America to what Dr. King called 'the beloved community.' "

" 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.' "

" We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters. "

" Without our faith, we wouldn't have been able to succeed. On many occasions, before we'd go out on a sit-in, before we went on the freedom ride, before we marched from Selma to Montgomery, we would sing a song or say a prayer. Without our faith, without the spirit and spiritual bearings and underpinning, we would not have been so successful. "

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

" Obama is not an African American president, but a president of all Americans. It doesn't matter if you are black, white, Hispanic, he's the president of all races. "

" I believe in forgiveness; I believe in trying to work with people. "

" I think President Barack Obama has been a good president. "

" I was so inspired by Dr. King that in 1956, with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins - I was only 16 years old - we went down to the public library trying to check out some books, and we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for colors. It was a public library. "

" We should be creative, and we should accommodate the needs of every community to open up the democratic process. We should make it easy and accessible for every citizen to participate. "

" 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. "

" When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something. "

" Following the teaching of Gandhi and Thoreau, Dr. King, it set me on a path. And I never looked back. "

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

" 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. "

" Selma helped make it possible for hundreds and thousands of people in the South to become registered voters and encouraged people all across America to become participants in a democratic process. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" We are one people; we are only family. And when we finally accept these truths, then we will be able to fulfill Dr. King's dream to build a beloved community, a nation, and a world at peace with itself. "

" 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

" You have to be optimistic in order to continue to move forward. "

" My mother and father and many of my relatives had been sharecroppers. "

" Many young people, many children, are being abused, being put down, being bullied because of their sexual orientation. "

" I travel all the time, but when I come back to the South, I see such progress. In a real sense, a great deal of the South has been redeemed. People feel freer, more complete, more whole, because of what happened in the movement. "

" If it hadn't been for that march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday, there would be no Barack Obama as President of the United States of America. "

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

" The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. made me very, very sad, and I mourned and I cried like many of our citizens did. "

" I believe race is too heavy a burden to carry into the 21st century. It's time to lay it down. We all came here in different ships, but now we're all in the same boat. "

" We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jails over and over again. And then you holler, 'Be patient.' How long can we be patient? "

" What I try to tell young people is that if you come together with a mission, and its grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible. "