Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our honored guests, members of the house of representatives, the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the president of United States. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the United States house of representatives, the honorable john boehner. [applause] good morning and welcome to the United States capitol. This is a red letter day for the american people, and i am glad you are all here and are taking part in the celebration. Since the era of reconstruction, this chamber, which once was the hall of the house of representatives, has become home to statues sent by the states. Today, we gather to dedicate a National Statue of the late rosa parks in recognition of her many contributions to this nation and to the cause of freedom. It is the first statue of an africanamerican woman to be placed in this capital. [applause]we are honored to be joined by the president of the United States and members of his and ministration his administration. [applause]this is a homecoming of sorts for mrs. Parks, who for more than 20 years was an assistant to representative john conyers of michigan. [applause]i want to thank all of the members of congress who are here and work to make this day possible. Also with azar eugene dolled tor, andllalb, the sculpu the codesigner of the statue. [applause]it is safe to say this was not just any project. These gentlemen rose to the occasion. Gentlemaen, please stand to be recognized. [applause]to unveil the statue, we will be joined by sheila keyes and alain steele, a longtime friend. And cofounder of the rosa and Raymond Parks institute for self development. Thank you both for joining us and thanks to all of the civil rights guests who honor us today with your presence. Every now and then, we have got to step back and say to ourselves, what a country. This is one of those moments. All men and women are created equal, but as we will hear during the ceremony, some grow to be larger than life and to be honored as such. Welcome. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the presentation of the colors by the United States armed forces color guard, the singing of our national anthem, and the retiring of our colors. Oh, say, can you see by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming whose broad stripes and right stars right stars through the perilous fight the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there o, say, does that starspangled banner yet wave of the free and the home of the brave ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing as the chaplain of the United States us senate gets gives the invocation. Let us pray. Oh mighty god, sovereign of our nation and lord of our lives, thank you for this opportunity to place a statue in the us Capital Building that honors a gifted, courageous and talented woman, rosa louise arcs parks. We praise you, lord, with infusing her with the resolve to sit down so that millions could stand up, helping to launch a nationwide effort to end the segregation of public facilities. We are grateful for her commitment to bring deliverance to those held captive by tnjustice, to restore the sitgh rallye ethically and more clic blind, and mend the wounds of those hurt by the sins of omission and those who fail to act. Mayor life and legacy inspire us to courageously tackle the challenges of our times, laboring to ensure justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. We pray in your sovereign name. Amen. [amen] please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated for the unveiling of the statue. [applause]ladies and gentlemen, the statue of rosa parks. [applause]ladies and gentlemen, the United States army corps United States army chorus. Heaven ring bring with the harmonies of liberty [chorus singing] [chorus singing] [chorus singing] [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the assistant democratic leader of the United States house of representatives , the honorable james clyburn. [applause] enqueue. Thank you. Mr. President , speaker boehner, leader pelosi, leaders reaid ad mcconnell, friends, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. This is a good time and a great place to honor the most honorable woman. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the signing of the emancipation proclamation which jumpstarted a march to freedom for many, who while in servitude built this great edifice. This year is also the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. It was a watershed event in our quest for human dignity. Rosa parks, the first lady of civil rights, the mother of the movement, the saint of an endless struggle, however one wished to refer to her, the statue. Forever ordains rosa parks as an icon of our nations struggles till about its declaration that we are all created equal. One hour ago, i sat across the street witnessing the opening arguments in the case before the United StatesSupreme Court, the case many feel could turn the clock back on much of the progress that has been made and for which we pause today to honor rosa parks. The struggle goes on. The movement continues. The pursuit is not over. To honor rosa parks in the fullest manner, each of us must do our part to protect that which has been gained, defend the great document upon which those rains were obtained, and will continue our pursuit of a more Perfect Union. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the democratic leader of the United States house of representatives, the honorable nancy pelosi. [applause] good morning. Mr. President , leader reid, eater macconnell, mr. Speaker, members of the house and senate, distinguished guests. Thank you, mr. Speaker, for making this day possible. [applause]one distinguished guest who is not with us or maybe has come late to john lewis. We are on the steps of the Supreme Court earlier this morning. Mr. Clybourn stated until this start of the program the start of the program. It is an honor to sit in the congress of the United States to john lewis. [applause]and it is a joy to be here to honor rosa parks. When rosa parks was a little baby, her mother sang her the o freedom, let it ring. She heard that song in church. It would become the anthem and mission of her life. Rosa parks would say i would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free and wanted other people to be free. Rosa parks is being remembered with this statue in the capital, but this is not the first time her greatness has been recognized here. She has many connections to congress. She is no stranger to these halls. She was recognized with a congressional gold mumble goldmedal and strapped with the title mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement. With the words quiet strength, dignity, encourage your coshia personal and courage. For 18 years, she was an assistant to john conyers. [applause]they worked together to advance the cause of civil rights and equality. We always ask john conyers to tell us stories about rosa parks. One that i think that is appropriate at this time is john conyers first met her when he was just out of school. He traveled south to join the Civil Rights Movement after law school and he met her then. She worked on his first campaign. She would later become his first congressional higher, the first hire, the first her city hired on his congressional staff. Ready soon, john conyers found out that pretty soon, john conyers found out that people were visiting the office to see rosa parks and not john conyers. [laughter]how about this mr. President . One day she went to him and said she wanted to thank him for allowing her to be honored all over the country and would be willing to take a pay cut for time away from the office. [laughter]because of the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus and that of leader reid, rosa parks was the first woman to lie in state in the rotunda of the capitol of United States of the United States. [applause]on her birth, her mother had song of letting freedom ring. How proud her mother would be to see her baby eulogized at her passing by two president s, former president clinton and future president barack obama. [applause]imagine that. I had the privilege of speaking at her funeral, too. But what can you say in the company of that greatness . What i said was that legislation had been introduced by Jesse Jackson junior and senator john kerry to place the statue of rosa parks in the capital of the United States. [applause] i got an uproarious reaction to it. What can you say among president s, past and future, preachers from all over the country . A statue. I promised them that the legislation would pass, and quickly. That funeral was november 2, and on december 1, president george w. Bush signed it into law. [applause] 50 years to the day that rosa parks sat down on the bus and in montgomery, alabama. 50 years to the day. [applause] rosa parks should feel right at home in the capital, joining sojourner truth, dr. Martin luther king and many other american heroes. She will inspire all who walked these halls, especially young people, with her quiet strength, her pride, her dignity, her courage. I told you she was recognized by congress and friends of congress. Now i would like to share with you comments from one of my invited to get. The race all great, willie mays baseball great, willie mays. These are the same injustices that rosa parks did when he was growing up. He could not be here today but sent a letter and said i could share these words about her. He said more than this, and i gave the complete letter to roses. Niece. Ice he said, change does not happen fast. One persons actions inspiring another. She simply did what was natural. She was tired so she sat down. That simple act sparked outrage. That outrage spread, and one persons actions inspired change. We will try to remember to encourage change when served justice. Today, we will remember with admiration the simple act of a brave woman. We will remember, we will honor, rosa parks. Lovely words from a fellow alabama and alabaman, all american icon, willie mays. Her bravery, serving justice, and inspiring change, may this statue long be a tribute to her strength and spirit, the legacy and leadership areas may god bless the memory of rosa. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the republican leader of the united dates senate, the honorable mitch mcconnell. [applause] mr. President , you honor us with your presence. Thanks for being here. [applause] speaker boehner, leader reid, leader policy, members of the parks family, distinguished guests and friends, we gather here today to remember a woman whose legacy has already outlived her time among us. We honor her, not only with our presence, but with this permanent win minor of the cause reminder of the she embodied. With this statue we affirm that the courage and the cause of rosa parks not only earned her a place in the hearts of all americans, but a permanent place among the other figures in the fall in this hall of national memory. Rosa parks may not have led us to victory against the british, she did not give a single speech in the senate or the house am a poor blast off into space, or point the way west in the western wilderness. Yet, with quiet courage, and unshakable resolve, she did something no less important on a cold, alabama evening in 1955. She helped unite the spirit of america. Which the founders so perfectly expressed in the opening words of the declaration of independence. Would the form of government they so brilliantly outlined in our constitution. For some, rosa parks served as an inspiration to stand up against injustice. For others, she was spurred to reflection and self realization. She had the ideals of freedom, democracy, and Constitutional Rights with the reality of life as others lived it. As president bush put it upon signing the bill that authorized the statue, she set in motion a National Movement for equality and freedom. Which is why we are here today. Rosa parks is often portrayed as a quiet, unassuming figure. She lives in americas collective memory, in a pair of rimless lasses glasses, hair pulled back, neatly dressed in a simple hats and dress or scaring stoically ahead in that famous photo as prisoner 7053. We should not let that overshadow her tenacity. This was a woman who paid her own way through school by cleaning classrooms when she was just a child. A woman who was so determined to exercise her civic freedoms that she took the segregationist era literacy exam. A test designed to keep so many africanamericans before her from registering to vote. Not once, or twice, but three times. Until she passed it. Today as americans, we are united in reimagining rosa louise parks, clutching her purse in those tense moment as Montgomery City bus number 2857 rolled down cleveland avenue. We are reminded of the power of simple acts of courage. On an otherwise ordinary evening in montgomery, she did the extraordinary by simply staying put. In the process, she helped all of us discover something about ourselves. And about the great region through regenerative capacity of america. We have the ability as a nation to recognize past mistakes. We have had the strength to confront those mistakes. It has always required people like rosa parks to help us get there. As of the changes she helped set in motion, entire generations of americans have been able to grow up in a nation where segregated buses only exist in museums. Where children of every race are free to fulfill their god given potential. And where this simple carpenters dr. Daughter from tough lady from tuskegee could become a zero. What a story, what a legacy, what a country. Thank you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the majority leader of the United States sent it senate, the honorable harry reid. 100 years after rosa parks was born, more than half a century after she sparked the Civil Rights Movement, the United States is still striving to ensure every american is not only created equal by god, but treated equally in the world. As america shapes its future, struggles with its past, a past in which equality was our principal, but not always our practice, two of the best Motion Pictures this year were nominated for academy awards. Lincoln and django unchained offered cinematic treatments of our nation and slavery. One film provides a view of the evils of slavery. The other depicts our difficult journey to end it. 150 years after president lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, we are still considering, in film, in photo, in art, in activism, how to eradicate slaverys unsavory successors. Racism and in the quality. Inequality. In the doorway to my office, i have a doorway to the president in the oval office. Let me tell you why it is there. I got up to read the newspaper, and i saw this picture in the Washington Post that appeared all over the country. We have these wonderful military officers who serve in the honor guard in the white house. Rest in the fancy uniforms, they serve their tour of duty, and traditionally what happens is the president invites them into the oval office office. The officer and his family. This officer was invited with his wife and two children. He, as an american african american, are his children and wife. The picture was not posed. The photographer did not have time to take the picture that he wanted. This little boy, jacob, said to the president , this innocent little boy, said to the president of the United States the president could not hear him. He said, what did you say buddy . He said, can i fill your hair . I am sure this boy had been teased at school because of his hair. So the president leaned over, and this angelic child is feeling his hair. When he finished, he looked up at the president of the United States and said, it is just like mine. [applause] i show that picture to everyone coming to my office in the entryway. Even today, after months and months, the signed picture the president give to meet causes me to shed a tear. To me, it is a potent reminder that although our journey is not over, this country has come far in its short history toward righting injustice and living up to its founding principles. Without the sacrifices of rosa parks, this president s day, this photograph, so much of the progress we have made to perfect our union would not have been possible. Today, our nation pays enduring tribute to the woman who moved the world when she refused to move her seat. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the United States house of representatives, the honorable john boehner. [applause] i want to thank all of you for joining us in this wonderful ceremony today. In many ways, the statue speaks for itself. Which is a blessing, because no words could do justice to rosa parks. Here in the old hall as she casts an unlikely silhouettes. Unassuming and a lineup of proud stairs. Challenging all of us once more to look up and draw strength from stillness. As a child, rosa parks was shy, reserved, at least on the outside. On the inside, she was absolutely absorbing the gospel. Listening closely to god. Who, as she said, was everything to me. Through every ordeal, she would repeat some scripture to herself area at from corinthians, we were all made to drink from one spirit. From luke, the parable of the persistent widow who prays and craze for an unjust judge until finally he sees the light are. When warned that she would be arrested, rosa parks did not have to look for a far for courage. She did not have to look anywhere. I felt determination, over my body, like a quilt on a winter night. Humility is not compatible with bravery. We put god before ourselves when we make in god we trust not just a motto, but a mission, as rosa parks did every burden can be lifted. Today we speak for a nation