00:00And with that, it is my great honor to introduce one of those brave patriots, true patriot,
00:07State Representative Ramon Romero from Fort Worth.
00:16Thank you, Chair Martin.
00:18My name is Ramon Romero, Jr., State Representative, District 90 in Fort Worth, Texas,
00:23and also Chairman of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus,
00:26the oldest and largest Latino caucus in the United States of America.
00:31So right now, there's folks saying that we walked out.
00:34And I think everyone behind me will say we're standing up, and as Texans would say, we're standing tall.
00:41There's others that are saying and warning us that they're going to arrest us or make us pay fines.
00:49I'll pay that price for America.
00:51And I think everyone behind me would say they would do the same.
00:54That would be a very small price to pay for what we would save for these Americans that have fought so hard
01:04and against the maps that aim directly at black and brown voices.
01:11Tomorrow marks 60 years since the Voting Rights Act was signed into law,
01:17and that law that was born at a sacrifice of people bleeding, marching, and even dying for the right to vote.
01:24And now here we are one day before that anniversary watching Trump try to destroy it.
01:30That power grab by Trump and Abbott doesn't just have the goal of getting five more seats in Congress.
01:38It has another goal, a goal more sinister than that.
01:41And that is to make people believe that their vote doesn't really matter.
01:45That's why it's all of our fight, just like it was 60 years ago.
01:51LBJ signed that law.
01:54He was a proud Texan willing to stand up and fight for the sake of a better America.
01:58In a very difficult time, many of us remember what it was like prior to integration and remember those fights.
02:06They were not anything we want to go back to.
02:09I had my femur broken when I was four years old, just for being in the wrong place, thrown off of my own porch, broken because of those race wars.
02:22It's a day we should never want to go back to.
02:25That's what's being created right now when you shut a community out.
02:29Americans previously silenced through the era of segregation and the lack of basic human rights in a nation that was founded by principles of freedom, liberty, and yes, justice for all.
02:39That's what LBJ fought for, even though he knew he would lose the South.
02:46We don't have that kind of leadership in Texas anymore.
02:50We have a follower.
02:52You know, we fought a fight this year as Governor Abbott had his voucher scam to remove public school dollars and send them to private schools.
03:02And he was losing.
03:03He made a call to Trump.
03:04Trump, I need your help.
03:06And those people on the Republican side, they folded.
03:09So what we have today is Governor Abbott receiving the call from Trump and repaying that favor.
03:18And that's a damn shame.
03:20So today, we Texans, we're doing something we don't normally ask for.
03:26We're asking for help.
03:27Maybe just as they did back in the days of the Alamo when they asked the rest of the country to come and join in on this fight.
03:35So we do ask you to join this fight because we're defending the rights of all Americans to value their vote and never be discouraged by way of a map drawn to say that your vote doesn't matter.
03:50We live in a blessed land, a land that's for all, for freedom above all.
04:01So I want to thank you today, Governor Pritzer, for welcoming us in Illinois.
04:05And Lieutenant Governor Stratton, thank you for that beautiful message.
04:08And I don't know your daddy at 92 years old, but I love that man already.
04:13DNC Chair Martin, thank you for everyone in D.C.
04:17Thank you for everybody that's come out on this fight.
04:20Lisa Hernandez, thank you for welcoming us as well.
04:23And all the Texas congressional members that are standing behind us.
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