mr. conaway for five minutes. mr. conaway: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. conaway: today is march 2, 2015. march 2, 1836 marked the beginning of what would become the texas -- republic of texas. today on that day 59 men signed the declaration of independence from mexico and created the republic of texas. the events of january through april of 1836 are relatively significant and i'll walkthrough some of that history. i stand here today to honor that incredible events of those days and the 179 years of texas experience that i'm proud to be a part of. it is a great honor to be able to -- and born in texas and claim a part of that incredible legacy. one of the signature events that the texas revolution with mexico was the battle of the alamo which began on february 23 1836. where colonel travis -- william barrett travis began to gather men at the alamo. i ask unanimous consent to introduce into the record a transcription of his letter written to the people of texas and all americans on february 24. travis and his

mr. conaway: thank you mr. chairman -- mr. conyers: thank you, mr. chairman. i think examining how many of us are here indicates how strongly the congressional black caucus feels about law enforcement and the african-american community. back in 1994, i was able to put into the crime bill section 14 141 and that deals with the practice investigation and highlights things that are going on in police democratics all over the country. and it's in that spirit that we now are proud of the job that the department of justice is doing because they come in with a very impartial method of examining this. i think your summary was excellent and we have to continue putting this in the spotlight. i notice that this and other police relations matters are now getting more attention than they've ever gotten before. it used to be that there was hardly any mention of them. i think that's a good step forward. and i think this will be instructive for many of the investigations and reviews going on in police departments all over the country. thank you, mr. chairman. mr. butterfield: