have uttered to ourselves and to our children since the birth of our nation -- i quote -- "in ameri america, anything is possible." as i look around the senate floor today, i think of my parents who never saw this chamber. i think of my grandparents who never saw this city. i think of my ancestors who could dream only their freedom. i think of my great-great-grandfather, who was given that freedom, freed from bondage as a slave in 1865 near columbus, georgia. without a name of his own, he adopted the army rank as his first name, "major," and he adopted the name of his county, greene, as his last name. and he named himself major greene. and in the span of those few generations, i stand here in the senate chamber as the great-great-grandson of major greene on that uniquely american arc of history that has taken my family from slavery to the senate. as a nation, we have come a long way, but we cannot turn our backs on the shame of slavery, just as we cannot turn our backs on the rest of the constitution that at one time embraced it. the greatness of this nation come from our ability to chart a