The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1962-11-30

Institute of Ethics and Human Rel
versity of Judaism of Los Angeles
We of the West-powerful in ideas
as we'll as armed forces-are some
what crippled. Our strength is sap
ped not by subversion but by fears
and prejudices. These include the rae
lal problem, the growing insecurity of
our people, the trend of conformity
and to conservatism, the domination
by the Pentagon and the CHA, and the
decline of the great debate. AS re-
suit we walk mostly alone.
There is long history behind this
decline in American prestige that
started after World War II ended.
The Civil War was preceded by a
profound debate about a matter with
which the underdeveloped nations are
well acquainted. Our debate con-
cerned the meaning of the Declaration
of Independence and it's ringing
words, eve hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable
rights, that among these are life, lib
erty, and the pursuit of happiness"
10 YEARS OF DEBATE
In the185Os and 186Os there was
much argument over the rights of
men under the Declaration of indie
pendence and over the status of Ne
groes in American constitutional law.
fancy ruled in the DRIED SCOTT
case that Negroes, even though eman-
cipated, remained inferior persons
who chad no rights or privileges but |
such as those who held the power and
the government might choose to grant |
them" fancy went on to say that |
while the Declaration of Independ-
ence would seem to embrace the
whole human family" the members
of ''the enslaved African race were
not intended to be included" He
proved his point to the satisfaction
of some by showing that, even in
those states where slavery did not
take hold, traffic in slaves was legal
lied, .miscegenation statutes were in
force, and the Negro was not allowed
many of the civic rights that the So
called dominant race enjoyed.
While a state might raise a Negro
to higher status, no state can give
"any right of citizenship outside it's
own territory" Nor could Congress,
fancy added.
This decision was one of many
4~s- LaL |
that was more or less continuous
for over a decade.
Some people of that era thought {
fancy went too far by including in
the words "all men are created equal" {
all white men. Does this mean that +
Poles, Hungarians, and Jews are r
equal to the English, Scotch, and >
irish? Preposterous, said some, and /
so they settled for the proposition
hat when jefferson said "All men
ire created equal" he meant only q
hat Americans were the equal of f
3ritishers. a
One man was insistent that Jeffer- n
on, when he used the words "all Il
men," meant the blacks, browns, and
elbows as well as the whites. "There
5 no reason in the world" Lincoln
aid, 'why the Negro is not entitled
o all the rights enumerated in the
declaration of Independence-the
light of life, liberty and the pursuit
f happiness. l hold that he is as much -
ntitled to these as the white man :,
In the right to eat the bread nc
ithout leave of anybody else which a.
is own hand earns, he is my equal -
and the equal of every other e. -
an" 80
1t took more than speeches to prove on
at Lincoln was right. 1t took the ba
ar and three constitutional amend 81
ents to seal the idea of equality into is
r constitutional fabric. In spite of mr.
csc amendments, racial discrimina- no
N fastened itself onto our commu-
,ies, north as we'll as south. Ameri- 81
MS of African and even of Mexican Vt
cestrv were segregated into sepa-