. . .and today?
Click on the link here for Audio Player – LBJ Signs Civil Rights Act – July 2, 1964 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
Forty-nine years ago today, President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As part of the legacy of John F. Kennedy, who had proposed it a year earlier, Johnson was committed to making the Act a reality.
President Johnson: “We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment.
We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. Yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights.
We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings—not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.
The reasons are deeply imbedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand—without rancor or hatred—how this all happened.
But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it.”
And forty-nine years later, it would seem many of the issues fought for in that bill are being threatened today.
Something about forgetting the past and being doomed to repeat it.
Here is President Johnsons address at the signing of the Civil Rights Bill – July 2, 1964.
Related articles
- Civil Rights Act of 1964 (propresobama.org)
- Congresswoman Wilson’s Statement on the Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (bloggingblackmiami.com)
