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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 78 (Thursday, May 11, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6506-S6507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

   THE 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL RIGHTS

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. President, in recognition of the 45th anniversary of 
the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, I believe it is appropriate 
to reflect upon this country's history on the issue of civil rights and 
express some thoughts about the direction the country is heading today.
  In 1950, when the Leadership Conference was first formed, we 
essentially had a system of racial apartheid in many parts of the 
country. It was illegal for black and white children to attend school 
together, it was illegal for black and white adults to marry. Black 
Americans were shut out of the political system--they were not 
permitted to serve on juries, run for office, or, in many cases, cast a 
ballot. There was no meaningful equal protection of the laws, 
especially the criminal laws. Blacks who dared to assert their 
political rights or buck the mores of the racial caste system, were 
beaten or lynched. The police and formal legal system always looked the 
other way. Blacks could not receive a fair trial in a court of law as 
racial prejudice clouded the normal American presumption that justice 
is blind.
  Through Federal court litigation, and eventually legislative action 
by the U.S. Congress, many of these barriers were cast aside, the 
chains of Jim Crow were unlocked, and the Constitution's promise of 
equal opportunity began to become a reality. As the decades passed and 
progress was made on many fronts, other groups of American citizens--
women, racial minorities, religious groups, and the physically 
disabled, to name a few--rose to assert the rights that accrue with 
American citizenship. Their claims have been simple, clear, and 
powerful: treat us 
[[Page S6507]] like everyone else in society is treated, give us the 
opportunities to succeed that other Americans are given as a matter of 
birthright, let us participate in the mainstream of American life.
  So we have made progress. When in the past Jackie Robinson was spit 
upon and received death threats over the phone, today Michael Jordan 
can give genuine happiness to millions of Americans, of all creeds and 
colors, merely by deciding to trade in his baseball cleats for a pair 
of sneakers. When one of our country's greatest institutions, the U.S. 
Army, once had to be desegregated by Presidential decree, in modern 
times Colin Powell rose to lead that institution and now is one of our 
most popular public figures. When minorities were once threatened and 
intimidated from exercising the franchise, now hundreds of minorities 
hold public office throughout the country and dozens of minority 
legislators sit here in the U.S. Congress.
  The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has been at the forefront 
of this march of progress. The principles of equality, inclusion, and 
tolerance that it promotes are reflected in the structure of the 
organization, as it is comprised of 180 different groups representing 
people from all walks of life, all shades of skin color, and all 
denominations and ethnicities. The legislative achievements of the 
conference are monumental--not only for the importance of the bills on 
American life, but for the bipartisan support that they achieved. The 
Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, the Americans With Disabilities 
Act, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act are but a few of the 
conference's noteworthy achievements.
  But one cannot look back fondly at successes without also thinking 
about our past shortcomings as well. Here we stand, a generation after 
the civil rights revolution, and we must ask how history will judge us. 
Have we done all we could to make our society more just, opportunities 
more available, tolerance and understanding more pervasive, violence 
less prevalent? Have poverty, intolerance, and ignorance been 
marginalized or have our actions or omissions led to the 
marginalizations of the poor, the uneducated, and others occupying the 
bottom rung of society?
  Any honest appraisal must conclude that our record is mixed. Progress 
has been made in many areas, but we are going backward in others. Our 
problems were once simple and clear issues of equal justice that could 
be solved merely by changing the law. Our current problems now bear on 
complex social conditions that few can explain and even fewer know how 
to solve.
  There is also new unrest in the country that is manifesting itself in 
ugly ways. Extremists seek to place at odds peoples and communities 
that have been traditional and genuine allies. The ethos of tolerance, 
dialog, and reconciliation are being subverted by those who, appealing 
to baser instincts, seek to balkanize America. And remarkably, there 
are those who now want to move to a color-blind society, based on the 
make-believe view that racism and intolerance are things of the past 
and that our centuries of overt discrimination have had absolutely no 
bearing on the current condition of the least fortunate members of 
society. It is as if many believe that the Emancipation Proclamation 
and Civil Rights Acts were written at the time of the Magna Carta and 
the beating of Rodney King happened centuries, not just years, ago.
  But rather than be discouraged in the face of our failures, and 
lament about the difficult challenges ahead, we must find hope in the 
progress that has been made and summon the resolve to redouble our 
efforts to remake our society to bring us closer to the ideals we hold 
dear. The work of the Leadership Conference is not done. We are a 
better society as a result of its 45 years of dedication to equality 
and we will be a better society due to its work in the future.

                          ____________________
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