ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the united states house of representatives, the honorable john boehner. [applause] good afternoon and welcome to the united states gavel. the congress is celebrating the heroes of the civil rights movement. a time that proves frederick douglass was right when he said if there is no struggle, there is no progress. it was three weeks in a day after the march on washington, martin luther king jr. was in birmingham, alabama. he was not there to sermonize, he was there to eulogize, to make sense of the sunday morning murder of young addie mae collins, denise mcnair, carole robertson, and cynthia wesley. the innocent blood of these little girls may well serve as a redemptive force. what may have been discomfort turned out to be prophecy. birmingham had to go through hell, but found its way back and pushed itself forward and pushed the whole country forward as well. this is one of the true american stories. two representatives from alabama have
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