Washington, Sep 17, 2001 - I am privileged to have one of the largest constituencies of Arab -Americans and Muslims and Arab -Christians and Asian-Indian constituencies in the United States. And I know, as has been recited tonight, that we are talking about Americans - our brothers and sisters, individuals whose sons and daughters serve this country; individuals who have built many of our communities; individuals who provide jobs for many of our families; individuals who own and operate many of our small businesses; individuals who are stalwart citizens in the community; individuals who believe in our Constitution; individuals who believe in our way of life; individuals who help describe what is good about America.

So it is appropriate that we are here past 1 o'clock in the morning to make a statement about what America represents, about what America stands for, about the principles which bring us to this House.

As someone who has had the privilege of serving in this House for almost 5 years now, every day that I come into this Chamber and I walk along this counter, I see carved in the counter certain principles expressed in single words. Starting from my left, you see the word ``peace,'' and then next to it carved in the wood is the word ``liberty,'' and right here in the center is the word ``tolerance.'' Behind me carved in wood, the word ``justice,'' and right around the corner, the word ``union.''

These principles literally physically frame our debate every minute that we are here on the floor of the House of Representatives. You cannot miss them. They look out at us every moment; and by reference, they look out at America.

Arab -Americans are our brothers and our sisters, and we have the responsibility to stand up for them, just as in the last few hours we took a stand on behalf of those poor souls who perished by claiming the right to pursue justice on their behalf, because we do not need any more victims in this country. America does not need to incur any more losses on our soil, and we do not need to incur it at the hands of American citizens turning against U.S. citizens, turning against our own people. So tonight we plead for tolerance.

Now, tonight all across America people stood outside their homes and held candles in the darkness. Those candles were held to send out the light of hope in the darkness of despair. The previous night thousands of people surrounded the Reflecting Pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, and a ring of light framed the water, reflecting the stars above.

We know that light always shines in the darkness. That is the promise of so many of our holy scriptures. We know the light of tolerance shines in the darkness of hate. We know the light of justice shines through the darkness of prejudice. We know the light of liberty shines through the dark hold of emotional, spiritual, and physical chains. We know the light of peace shines through the darkness of terrorism. We know the light of union shines through the darkness of division.

My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; long may our land be bright, with freedom's holy light, protect us by thy might, great God, our king.