Hoyer Delivers Remarks at 39th Annual Black History Month Breakfast

Yesterday morning, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) delivered remarks at the 39th annual Black History Month Breakfast. He joined keynote speaker Congresswoman Val Demings (FL-10), Congressman Anthony Brown (MD-04), and hundreds of Fifth District residents and community leaders at today’s event. Below is a transcript of his remarks: “I am pleased that Val agreed to join us, and I will try to be as brief as I can, but there are some important things to say. First of all, I want to thank our sponsors. I want to thank all of those who contribute to making this breakfast possible, to making sure this – what I call a ‘revival’ – possible, so that we focus not only on what has been done, but what needs to be done. “I want to thank [Congressman] Anthony Brown. I want to thank the [Black History Month Breakfast Celebration Planning] Committee for all they do and Chairwoman [Jackie] Rhone and everybody on that committee. Betty Richardson, who is always there, all the time, and in every way, thank you so much…“This year, we mark not only 150 years since the Fifteenth Amendment’s ratification but also the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, which finally codified in our Constitution that the right to vote ‘shall not be denied or abridged …on account of sex.’ We offered that [resolution] on the [Equal Rights] Amendment on Thursday, because of Jackie Speier, Brenda Lawrence, and other co-sponsors, and we passed it. It should have been passed unanimously. On the Floor, I said, do you want to call your wife, or your mother, or your daughter, or your sister and say that she’s not equal? Do you want to go home and look her in the eye and say: In America, you’re not equal? Unfortunately, it did not pass unanimously, but it did pass handily and is now in the United States Senate. We ought to urge Senator McConnell to put that bill on the Floor, so that we can rearticulate that commitment that all people are created equal.