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REMARKS OF CECIL F. POOLE AT NAACP 54TH ANNUAL CONVENTION, MORRISON HOTEL, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 1963, 10 A.M. THE YEAR AHEAD IN POLITICAL ACTION Two weeks ago President Kennedy sent to Congress a civil rights legislative proposal known as "The Civil Rights Act of 1963." It is designed to cover the major areas where legislation may effectively preserve civil rights and may proscribe discrimination. Briefly, the proposed bill deals with voting rights; a ban on discrimination in places of public accommodation; provisions for speeding up school desegregation; establishment of a Community Relations Service to settle racial problems by conciliation; extension of the Federal Commission on Civil Rights; conversion of the President's Committee on Equal Employment into a full commission with legislative authorization and a budget for operations; and other provisions for withholding federal financial assistance from activities which discriminate. In his keynote address Monday, Secretary Roy Wilkins told this convention that the bill promises to deal effectively with about 80% of the areas which have been the prime concern of the NAACP. NAACP and other civil rights organizations regard these proposals as moderate but realistic attempts to provide some minimum protections in the respects covered and to bring the full force of law to the aid of those beleaguered people in Birmingham, and Jackson, and Greenville, and Danville, and everywhere else. President Kennedy, in submitting the bill to Congress has stated that in his view this legislation pertains not at all of the drastic, but is a simple and obviously needed means of establishing the legal and moral right of all citizens to go about their daily lives free of the ugly shadows of discrimination which have existed so long and about which we, as a national folk, have pretended such little concern. This week, Attorney General Robert Kennedy led off the first salvoes in what will be long battle through Washington's sweltering summer. He too pointed out to Congress that these proposals are just moderate statements that all our citizens are entitled to elemental decency in treatment and that they should not have to win their rights by the process of battling in the streets. It is vital to the country, to NAACP, and to each of us, that the Civil Rights Act of 1963 be enacted. We are an action organization. This bill, sponsored by an Administration now fully alive to the explosive dangers of allowing repressive laws, customs or traditions to prevail in areas where people are just people, is not just the responsibility of its executive athuor and protagonists: it is life and death to us. It is our number one obligation to support it with vigor and political power, and to communicate the urgency of its passage to everyone of our representatives in Congress. It is the temper of this and other groups that the fires of liberty and freedom, which flared so hotly this year, be not permitted to die away. Suggestions—pleas—have been made that Congress not be placed in the position of having to deliberate on these important measures with a "gun" of pressure, i.e., demonstrations, pointed at it. It is now apparent that peaceful demonstrations — which have been absolutely necessary in order to get civil rights out of the forgotten back reaches of America's conscience and into the foregoing's ugly relief — will continue until that has been done which will bring some actual change. These demonstrations have in major respects drawn the clear issue which this country now seems slowly about to face. The President understands and has told the country how urgent action—now has become. What we must do, then, is, individually, through groups, in every possible political means of communication, make sure that our Congressmen and Senators get the message that we insist upon passage of this legislation. Unfortunately, no sooner had the President dispatched the bill to the Capitol than the voices of resistance, of delay, and of obfuscation began to be heard.
Object Description
Title | National Convention remarks |
Series | Series 1, Addresses and Statements |
Digital Collection | Kelly Alexander, Sr. papers concerning the NAACP, 1948-1998 |
Creator | Alexander, Kelly M. |
Date Created | 1960-1965 |
Series Description | Addresses and speeches by figures in the NAACP organization, including Kelly Alexander, Sr. and Jr., Clarence Mitchell and Roy Wilkins. There are also speeches by Charlotte leaders, including Hugh McColl and Stanford Brookshire. |
Collection Description | This collection documents the activities of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), with an emphasis on the work and correspondence of Kelly Alexander, Sr. and his sons Kelly Alexander, Jr. and Alfred Alexander in Charlotte, North Carolina. The collection contains minutes, correspondence, reports, speeches, press releases, membership records, and a few photographs. Topics covered include school segregation, housing and employment discrimination, police misconduct, and the Charlotte Area Fund. |
Subjects--Names |
Alexander, Kelly M. Alexander, Kelly M., Jr., 1948- Alexander, Alfred L., 1952- |
Subjects--Organizations |
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Charlotte Branch. |
Subjects--Topics |
African Americans--North Carolina--Charlotte African Americans--Civil rights--North Carolina African Americans--Political activity--North Carolina--Charlotte Civil rights movements--North Carolina--Charlotte Civil rights workers--North Carolina--Charlotte African Americans--Housing--North Carolina--Charlotte Racism--Political aspects--North Carolina--Charlotte Race discrimination--North Carolina--Charlotte Police brutality--North Carolina--Charlotte Police misconduct--North Carolina--Charlotte |
Subjects--Locations |
Charlotte (N.C.)--Race relations--History--20th century Charlotte (N.C.)--Politics and government--20th century |
Coverage--Place |
Charlotte (N.C.) Mecklenburg County (N.C.) |
Box Number | 1 |
Folder Number | 5 |
Language | eng |
Object Type | Text |
Digital Format | Displayed as .jp2, uploaded as .tif |
Genre | manuscripts (document genre) |
Finding Aid | https://findingaids.uncc.edu/repositories/4/resources/701 |
Original Collection | Kelly Alexander, Sr. papers concerning the NAACP |
Digital Collection Home Page | http://digitalcollections.uncc.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16033coll20 |
Repository | J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) |
Digital Publisher | J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) |
Rights | These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study. The digital reproductions have been made available through an evaluation of public domain status, permissions from the rights' holders, and authorization under the law including fair use as codified in 17 U.S.C. section 107. Although these materials are publicly accessible for these limited purposes, they may not all be in the public domain. Users are responsible for determining if permission for re-use is necessary and for obtaining such permission. Individuals who have concerns about online access to specific content should contact J. Murrey Atkins Library. |
Location of Original | J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) |
Grant Information | Digitization made possible by funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. |
Identifier | naacp-ms508-0101005 |
Date Digitized | 2016-01-21 |
Rating |
Description
Title | naacp-ms508-0101005-12 |
OCR Transcript | REMARKS OF CECIL F. POOLE AT NAACP 54TH ANNUAL CONVENTION, MORRISON HOTEL, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 1963, 10 A.M. THE YEAR AHEAD IN POLITICAL ACTION Two weeks ago President Kennedy sent to Congress a civil rights legislative proposal known as "The Civil Rights Act of 1963." It is designed to cover the major areas where legislation may effectively preserve civil rights and may proscribe discrimination. Briefly, the proposed bill deals with voting rights; a ban on discrimination in places of public accommodation; provisions for speeding up school desegregation; establishment of a Community Relations Service to settle racial problems by conciliation; extension of the Federal Commission on Civil Rights; conversion of the President's Committee on Equal Employment into a full commission with legislative authorization and a budget for operations; and other provisions for withholding federal financial assistance from activities which discriminate. In his keynote address Monday, Secretary Roy Wilkins told this convention that the bill promises to deal effectively with about 80% of the areas which have been the prime concern of the NAACP. NAACP and other civil rights organizations regard these proposals as moderate but realistic attempts to provide some minimum protections in the respects covered and to bring the full force of law to the aid of those beleaguered people in Birmingham, and Jackson, and Greenville, and Danville, and everywhere else. President Kennedy, in submitting the bill to Congress has stated that in his view this legislation pertains not at all of the drastic, but is a simple and obviously needed means of establishing the legal and moral right of all citizens to go about their daily lives free of the ugly shadows of discrimination which have existed so long and about which we, as a national folk, have pretended such little concern. This week, Attorney General Robert Kennedy led off the first salvoes in what will be long battle through Washington's sweltering summer. He too pointed out to Congress that these proposals are just moderate statements that all our citizens are entitled to elemental decency in treatment and that they should not have to win their rights by the process of battling in the streets. It is vital to the country, to NAACP, and to each of us, that the Civil Rights Act of 1963 be enacted. We are an action organization. This bill, sponsored by an Administration now fully alive to the explosive dangers of allowing repressive laws, customs or traditions to prevail in areas where people are just people, is not just the responsibility of its executive athuor and protagonists: it is life and death to us. It is our number one obligation to support it with vigor and political power, and to communicate the urgency of its passage to everyone of our representatives in Congress. It is the temper of this and other groups that the fires of liberty and freedom, which flared so hotly this year, be not permitted to die away. Suggestions—pleas—have been made that Congress not be placed in the position of having to deliberate on these important measures with a "gun" of pressure, i.e., demonstrations, pointed at it. It is now apparent that peaceful demonstrations — which have been absolutely necessary in order to get civil rights out of the forgotten back reaches of America's conscience and into the foregoing's ugly relief — will continue until that has been done which will bring some actual change. These demonstrations have in major respects drawn the clear issue which this country now seems slowly about to face. The President understands and has told the country how urgent action—now has become. What we must do, then, is, individually, through groups, in every possible political means of communication, make sure that our Congressmen and Senators get the message that we insist upon passage of this legislation. Unfortunately, no sooner had the President dispatched the bill to the Capitol than the voices of resistance, of delay, and of obfuscation began to be heard. |
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