and of course, you know, we get following that in 1896, the dred scott decision -- i mean ferguson decision that says that plessy versus ferguson that says you can have equality, you can have freedom and citizenship where you have what they call absolute equality among citizens in a separate but equal society. and i was born in that separate but equal society, and it was that i was fighting in in 1961 when they had the sequescentennial of the emancipation of the civil war and i'm happy to be able to sit here today as we start to discuss the -- i'm sorry of the civil war, the 150th of the civil war at a time when there is an african-american president of the united states that proves not only that the war was important and ending slavery and african-americans played a pivotal role in that but it was also important in keeping this country united under one flag. and i'm glad to know we live in a country where we have a whole robust discussion even today about the direction this country is going in and we're all now at a point where we can all vote for -- and by voting express our opinion about