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Today, Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman, Congressman Cedric Richmond (LA-02), joined his CBC colleagues, civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis (GA-05) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), to testify in the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for Attorney General.

In his testimony Congressman Richmond made the case that the confirmation of Sen. Sessions for the top role in the Justice Department would be disproportionately harmful to African-Americans with respect to voting rights and criminal justice reform:

“Jeff Sessions has demonstrated a total disregard for the equal application of justice and protection of the law as it applies to African-Americans and falls short on so many issues,” said Rep. Richmond. “If you vote to confirm Senator Sessions, you take ownership of everything he may do or not do in office. He has no track record of fighting for justice for minorities, despite the characterizations you have heard from others today.”

Excerpts from the Congressman’s testimony can be found below.

I would like to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for allowing me to testify. The Senate’s duty to provide advice and consent to presidential nominees is a fundamental component of American democracy.  I know that you do not take this responsibility lightly. Before I jump into my substantive testimony I want to address two timely issues.

I want to first express my concerns about being made to testify at the very end of this set of witness panels. To have a Senator, a House Member and a living civil rights legend testify at the end of all this is the equivalent of being made to go to the back of the bus. It is a petty strategy and the record should reflect my consternation at the unprecedented process that brought us here. My record on equality speaks for itself and I don’t mind being last, but to have living legend John Lewis handled in such a fashion is beyond the pale and the message sent by this process is duly noted by me, the 49 Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the 78 million Americans and over 17 million African-Americans that we represent.

Further, on the issue of Sen. Sessions’ record prosecuting “the Marion 3” stemming from a complaint filed by African-Americans, I say the following. History is replete with efforts by those in power to legitimize their acts of suppression and intimidation of black voters by recruiting other blacks to assist in bringing trumped-up charges against law-abiding citizens who are engaged in perfectly legitimate voter education and empowerment activities.  Those tactics were effectively used against former Congressman Robert Smalls and hundreds - if not thousands - of black office holders and landowners, in our post Reconstruction Era and they were used several years ago against Mr. and Ms. Alfred Turner who were discussed by this Committee yesterday. I just wanted to address that.

The Declaration of Independence set forth the ideal of universal equality that rests at the heart of our democracy. But it is the Fourteenth Amendment to our Constitution and its Equal Protection Clause that has helped bring us closer to fulfilling that foundational principle. All cabinet officials have a responsibility to protect the interests of all the American people, but there is no office for which the duty to apply the law equally is greater than that of the Attorney General. In my capacity as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus I urge you to reject Sen. Sessions’ nomination.

Throughout our nation’s history, Attorneys General have used the resources of the federal government to vindicate the rights of the most vulnerable in society.  After the Civil War, the first Attorney General to lead the DOJ, Amos Akerman, prosecuted the KKK for its widespread use of violence aimed at suppressing the black vote. This facilitated massive black voting turnout in 1872. For the first time in our nation’s history, former slaves were afforded the opportunity to participate in the democratic process.

Simply put, he has advanced an agenda that will do great harm to African-American citizens and communities. For this reason, the CBC believes Sen. Sessions should be disqualified.

Jeff Sessions has demonstrated a total disregard for the equal application of justice and protection of the law as it applies to African-Americans and falls short on so many issues.

Jeff Sessions supports a system of mass incarceration that has disproportionately targeted African-Americans citizens and devastated African-American communities.

Jeff Sessions cannot be relied upon to enforce the Voting Rights Act.

In his decades-long career in public life, Sen. Jeff Sessions has proven himself unfit to serve in the role of Attorney General of the United States of America.

I would not have the opportunity to testify today if not for men like John Lewis who was beaten within an inch of his life in pursuit of the right to vote for African-Americans. It’s a shame that he must sit here more than 50 years later to defend the rights he fought so hard to gain. We sit here as the progeny of men and women who were bought, sold, enslaved, raped, tortured, beaten, and lynched.  Black people were bought as chattel and considered three-fifths of a human being. However, we have been able to endure and largely overcome that history thanks in part to brave men and women, both Democrat and Republican, who sat where you sit and cast often difficult votes for freedom and equality.  These Senators fought public opinion and even their own party to do what was right. I come before you today asking you to do the same.

Now you all must face a choice: be courageous or be complicit. If you vote to confirm Senator Sessions, you take ownership of everything he may do or not do in office. He has no track record of fighting for justice for minorities, despite the characterizations you have heard from others today. He and his supporters have told you he is a champion for civil rights and equality. Characterization and revisionist histories are not the same things as facts. He is on the record on numerous issues. I have provided just a few examples today. Let’s think about this logically. If he were in fact a champion for civil rights, wouldn’t the civil rights community support his nomination instead of speaking with one voice in near unanimous opposition?

Each and every Senator who casts a vote to confirm Sen. Sessions will be permanently marked as a co-conspirator in an effort to move this country backwards towards a darker period in our shared history.  So I ask you all, where do you stand? It is clear from Sen. Sessions’ record where he stands.  Will you stand with him and allow history to judge you for doing so?  I implore you all to weigh these questions properly as you prepare to cast what will be one of the most consequential votes in your time as a United States Senator.