Steve Cohen

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in appreciation for the political cartoonist Garry Trudeau, creator of the Doonesbury comic strip that has chronicled politics and American history with humor and wit for nearly 56 years.

Mr. Trudeau has graciously permitted me to reprint his work in my weekly e-newsletter for the past several years, and I want to thank him here publicly for the privilege. I've been a Doonesbury fan since the early 1970s and have followed the careers of his many witty characters--Mike, Mark, Zonker, B.D. and Boopsie, among others, and real-life political figures--in the pages of The Washington Post. My hometown paper in Memphis suspended publication of Doonesbury long ago.

Mr. Trudeau, a 1970 graduate of Yale University, was a valued political commentator even before he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1975, the first comic strip artist to receive that distinction. He has been a Pulitzer finalist another three times, and has received other national and international accolades, including the George Polk Award for a lifetime's achievement in 2015. Doonesbury was called ``one of the great intellectual/artistic accomplishments of the past half century'' in 2010 by Eric Alterman in The Nation.

It is a pleasure to wake up on Sunday mornings to see his wife, Jane Pauley, the longtime host of the ``CBS News Sunday Morning'' show. The two are icons of my generation. As I approach retirement from Congress, I wish them both well.

Mr. Speaker, this is my first opportunity to serve as the dean of the Tennessee delegation, and it didn't come too soon. Time is running out.

Dolly Parton was a phenomenal Tennessean, probably the best representative we ever had. She never looked down on anybody. She had a big heart. Whenever there was a tragedy or somebody in need, she came forward and wanted it to be anonymous. She was a good human being, and she had a beautiful voice.

I had a friend who was involved in the music business in the early seventies in Laurel Canyon when the Eagles and others were getting together. He told me about Dolly being out there, and that is where she got to know Linda Ronstadt and others. He said she had such a beautiful voice, and she did.

She will be remembered forever for all she did for humanity. Tennessee is proud to have her and will always love her.

Today, we celebrate 901 Day--a day to celebrate Memphis, Tennessee, and the people who make the city the great city that it is.

Mr. Speaker, 901 is more than an area code. It represents people who have never been afraid to stand up and demand better.

In 1968, AFSCME sanitation workers in Memphis marched for dignity, fair wages, and the basic right to be treated with respect. Dr. King came to Memphis to stand with those workers and tragically lost his life at that time.

This history reminds us that progress has never simply been given to Memphis. We have fought for it.

Now with the gerrymandered redistricting effort that took away the votes of Black voters and the large-scale ICE raid that was carried out this past weekend, we must fight harder.

Yes, today we celebrate the history, music, culture, and barbecue; but, most importantly, we celebrate the people, the generation of Memphians who refused to accept that things had to stay the way they were. We carry that spirit forward.

Happy 901 Day, Memphis.