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PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1964
THE SENATE DEBATES
Explanation Of Various Tides In Civil Rights Bill
The United States Senate Is debating a Civil
Rights Bill whose importance to the country
can hardly be ov*rstressed. Its major provisions
are meant to assure all citizens equal rights in
voting, education, employment, Federally-
assisted programs, and access to such public
places as hotels, restaurants, theaters, libraries
and parks.
To accomplish this, the bill would give the
Justice Department additional powers, would
establish two new agencies (an Equal Employ
ment Opportunity Commission and a six-man
Community Relations Service), and would ex
tend the life of the U S. Civil Rights Commis
sion another four years.
The provisions of the bill have been widely
misrepresented, but, happily, the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights has issued a pam
phlet that supplies “fact and sober comment” on
the measure. The Leadership Conference is com
posed of more than 80 national organizations
interested in winning passage of the rights bill.
Among them are the National Council of Cath
olic Men. the National Council of Catholic Wom
en, the National Catholic Social Action Confer
ence, the National Catholic Conference for In
terracial Justice, many Protestant and Jewish
groups, and labor organizations and civic
groups — all of them most reputable.
Sharing as we do the sense of urgency at
tached by the Administration and these and
other agencies to the Civil Rights Bill, we avail
ourselves of this pamphlet and reprint below a
condensed version of the conference’s summary
of the bill and of questions pertaining to it.
The summary correctly points out that the
bill does not attempt to abolish prejudice by
law. It notes that a man has a right to his in
dividual prejudices. But he does not have the
right to translate them into actions that deny
or infringe on the rights and liberties of others.
Summaries of the 11 major titles or sections
of the Civil Rights Bill, plus answers to related
questions, follow:
TITLE 1 . . . PROTECTING VOTING RIGHTS
To further protect voting rights in Federal
elections, this title would prohibit: (1) applying
different tests and standards to White and
Colored voters; (2) the denial of registration for
immaterial errors made in applications. It also
would require all literary tests to be given in
writing or to be transcribed.
Question: Is there really widespread dis
crimination against Negro voters?
In a government sampling of counties in
former Confederate states, it was found that
some counties had more registered White
voters than there were Whites in the county,
while no Negroes were registered. In a typical
county of this sort, the White population over
21 totaled 2,624, yet there were 2,810 regia-
tered White voters. None of the qualified Nc-
gro population of 6,085 was registered.
Other government samplings revealed that
in 100 counties of the Deep South, 89 per cent
of all Whites of voting age were registered,
and only 8.3 per cent of the Negroes.
Question: Can’t this be explained by apathy
on the part of Negroes?
In Belzoni, Miss., the minister who led a
Negro voting drive was shot down on the
courthouse steps in broad daylight by men who
warned him against carrying on his campaign.
In Gadsden County, Fla., 300 Negro teachers
were told they would lose their jobs if they
tried to vote. In Selma, Ala., last year, hun
dreds of Negroes ran a gauntlet of armed state
troopers and stood in line eight hours without
food or water in an attempt to register. In
Fayette County, Tenn., many Negroes who reg
istered lost their jobs.
It is true that even in places where Ne
groes can register freely, registration is some
times Ibw and apathy may be part of the rea
son. But it is only part. Intimidation is suffi
ciently widespread that the U.S. Civil Rights
Commission, in 1963, said it believes “the right
to vote, in large sections of the South, is still
denied to many citizens solely because of their
race.”
Question: To what extent does this pro
vision apply to state and local elections?
Although it is primarily directed against
discriminatory practices in Federal elections
for president, vice-president, senators and rep
resentatives, the provision would include any
election held “solely or in part for the pur
poseof choosing such candidates. Thus, in
some cases it would apply to state and local
elections.
Question: Doesn’t the bill interfere with a
state’s right to set voter qualifications?
No. It merely prohibits states from setting
different standards for Negroes and Whites
voting in Federal elections. The states would
continue to be free to establish any voter qual
ifications they please so long as they apply
them equally to all citizens.
TITLE 2 . . . RELIEF AGAINST
DISCRIMINATION IN PLACES OF
PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION
This title would prohibit discrimination in
most hotels, motels and other lodging places;
in restaurants, cafeterias and other eating
places; in motion pictures houses, theaters,
sports arenas and other places of exhibition
and entertainment; in gas stations and in such
places as specialty shops and barber shops
in hotels covered by the bill and in stores
with eating facilities covered by the bill. The
complaintant or the U.S. Attorney General
would be able to enforce these rights through
injunctions or other civil actions.
There is a specific exemption for small
rooming houses with no more than five rooms
to rent and used by the proprietors as their
own residences.
Question: Does the provision apply to doc
tor's offices?
No. It does not affect doctors, dentists, law
yers or others offering the public professional
services.
Question: What about private homeowners?
CANADIAN BISHOP
The bill contains no provision whatsoever
that would affect the sale or rental of private
homes.
Question: Why are public accommodations
such a burning issue?
Because no other form of discrimination
touches people so directly in every aspect of
their daily lives. A Negro official pointed out
that a simple vacation trip can become a har
rowing nightmare if one is Colored. “Where
and under what conditions can you and your
family eat? Where can they use a rest room?
Will your children be denied a soft drink be
cause they are not White? Can you stop driv
ing after a day behind the wheel or must you
continue on until you reach a city where rela
tives or friends will accommodate you for the
night? The players in this drama of frustra
tion and indignity are not commas or semi
colons in a thesis. They are people, human
beings, citizens of the United States of America.”
TITLE 3 . . . DESEGREGATION OF
PUBLIC FACILITIES
The Attorney General would be empowered
to initiate or intervene in. suits aimed at de
segregating public facilities other than schools
— such as parks, libraries, hospitals and play
grounds — where the injured party is unable
to pursue the remedy. He also would be au
thorized to intervene in private actions brought
by persons seeking relief from a denial of equal
protection of the law because of race, cfeed,
color or national origin.
Question: Why is this provision needed?
Violations of laws against segregation con
tinue to be widespread. Public beaches, hos
pitals, parks, reading rooms and other public
facilities are still denied to Colored citizens
whose taxes help pay for them. This provision
would be a new tool for opening these fa
cilities.
TITLE 4 . . . DESEGREGATION OF
PUBLIC EDUCATION
This title authorizes the Attorney General
to initiate or intervene in school desegregation
cases. It provides for technical assistance,
grants and training institutes to help commun
ities prepare for school desegregation. But it
exempts from its definition of desegregation
the transportation of students to end racial
imbalance.
Question: In view of the U.S. fupreme
Court school decision, why is this provision
necessary?
Although 10 years have passed since the
school decisions, nearly two-thirds of th*e pre
viously segregated school districts still deny
the rights of all children to an unsegregated
education. More than 2,000 school districts
still require White and Negro children to at
tend separate schools. Many districts listed as
“integrated” offer only token integration.
Question: Could the government require the
reorganization of school districts or the bussing
of students to eliminate racial imbalance
caused by residential segregation?
The local school board cannot be compelled
to do anything it does not wish to do. And, in
defining “desegregation," the provision speci
fies that it “shall not mean the assignment of
students to public schools in order to over
come racial imbalance."
Question: Why is it necessary to give the
U.S. Attorney General power to initiate school
desegregation suits?
Compliance with the Supreme Court school
decisions has simply been too slow. The power
in this section would enable the Attorney Gen
eral to implement the law of the land and has
ten the enjoyment of all citizens of their con
stitutional rights.
TITLE 3 ... COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS
This title would extend the life of the Com
mission another four years and give it addition
al duties of investigating vote fraud cases and
serving as a national clearing house on civil
rights.
Question: What enforcement powers would
the commission have?
None. It is essentially a fact-finding agency.
Its studies provide information that Congress
and public and private agencies use for in
telligent planning in the civil rights field.
TITLE 8 . . . NONDISCRIMINATION IN
FEDERALLY-ASSISTED PROGRAMS
This would prohibit discrimination in any
program or activity receiving Federal assist
ance under grant, contract or loan. Any de
nial of funds is subject to judicial review, with
a hearing guaranteed and a report to Con
gress required before funds can be denied.
Question: Why is the provision necessary?
Although many court decisions clearly es
tablish that discriminatory use of public funds
is unconstitutional, such discrimination 3till
continues. Suits by private taxpayers have no
standing in attacking these conditions. The
only recourse is Congressional or administra
tive action.
TITLE 7 . . . EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITY
Employers, labor unions and employment
agencies whose activities affect interstate com
merce would, under this title, be prohibited from
discriminating. Coverage would apply at first
to employers and unions with 100 or more em
ployees or members and drop by stages to 25
after four years. An Equal Employment Oppor
tunity Commission would be established to in
vestigate and voluntarily settle complaints. Upon
failure to settle, the Commission would be
authorized to file suit to enforce non-discrimina
tion. Prohibited discriminations include sex, as
well as race, creed, color or national origin.
Question: Wouldn’t this give Negroes pre
ferential treatment over Whites in hiring and
upgrading?
No. Nothing in the bill permits any indi
vidual to demand employment simply because
of race. It contains no provision requiring an
employer to set up a quota system or to main
tain any kind of racial or religious balance.
Its whole point is that all workers should be
treated equally.
Question: Doesn't the bill give the Federal
government control over the employment prac-
tioaa of private business?,
No. Employers are permitted to set any job
qualifications they wish, except those of race,
religion, creed, national origin or sex (where
these are irrelevant).
TITLE 8 . . . REGISTRATION AND
VOTING STATISTICS
This title directs the Secretary of Commerce
to conduct a voting census by race in roo-
graphic areas recommended by the U.S. Civil
Rights Commission.
Question: What is the purpose of this pro
vision?
The census would provide data that could
be used to enforce section tivo of the 14th
Amendment. This amendment provides that
where the right to vote in Federal or stale
elections is denied, the basis of the state's rep
resentation in the House of Representatives
wifi be correspondingly reduced. Even if tliaf
sanction is not invoked, adopting this provision
would help curb abuses.
TITLE 9 . . . REMOVAL PROCEEDINGS
rN CIVIL RIGHTS CASES
The orders of Federal courts sending certain
civil rights cases back to state courts arc not
now reviewable. This title would make them
reviewable by appeal.
TITLE 10 . . . ESTABLISHMENT OF
COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE
This title would establish in the Department
of Commerce a Community Relations Service
with personnel limited to six persons. Its pur
pose would be to provide assistance to communi
ties trying to resolve disputes involving dis
crimination that impair constitutional rights or
that may affect interstate commerce. The pro
vision was suggested by Southern members and
added to the bill without objection during tlm
House debate.
TITLE 11 . . . MISCELLANEOUS:
FINANCING, SEVERABILITY, PREEMPTION
This title contains a number of customary
provisions. One authorizes appropriations to
carry out the purposes of the bill. Another says
that if any provision of the act is held invalid,
the rest of the act shall not be affected. A fairly
standard preemption clause, added during floor
debate, specifies that nothing in the act shall be
construed as indicating an intent on the part of
Congress “to occupy the field in which any , . .
title operates to the exclusion of State laws on
the same subject . . That is, where adequate
state laws exist that offer protection equal to
those in the bill, they will remain In effect. The
federal government Is expressly forbidden to
preempt the field.
Hits Restrictions Over Pursuit Of Knowledge
DETROIT (NC)~A Canadian
Bishop warned here of “cer
tain dangers" in pursuit erf new
knowledge which can threaten
the life of Catholic scholar
ship.
Bishop G. Emmett Carter of
London, Ont., was keynote
speaker (April 1) at the 40th
annual convention of the Cath
olic Library Association.
SOME 1,100 delegates from
the United States and Canada
attended the sessions.
Speaking on “Culture in an
Industrialized Society," Bis
hop Carter told the librarians
that there Is no truth which Is
not worth seeking.
“The universe, we think with
Christian hope, is essentially
perfectable...this is the con
cept laid so well before us by
Pope John XX11I in his ency
clical Pacem in Terris, the
Ontario Bishop said.
“We have to refrain from
any inhibiting movement of this
spirit," he continued,
BISHOP Carter identified
three dangers to Catholic scho
larship: 1) “The practical
denial of the transcendental na
ture of the truth." This is man
ifested, he said, by the policy
of some “powers that be" that
it Is much better to leave peo
ple alone, In Ignorance.
2) “Exaggerated prudence In
debating issues touching on the
spiritual realm." He said that
although the Church is divine,
it is also in the hands of human
beings. This sometimes en
genders the Idea, he continued,
that we have something to hide.
Bishop Carter cited difficul
ties during the first session of
Vatican Council II in getting the
proper publicity. With the for
mation of the council press of
fice, subsequent coverage has
given the world an example by
its frank and open debates, he
said.
3) “Intellectual sluggishness
due to an exaggerated sense of
'having arrived’ at the truth."
Bishop Carter told the librar
ians that though we have the
great treasure of Revelation, it
was never meant to be a point
if arrival."
He exhorted his listeners to
“take this field of God and work,
it and produce fruit which Is
worthy of the sons of Abraham
and of his children.”
Earlier, an author, lecturer
and teacher told delegates that
wholesome reading is the ef
fective way of offsetting the
harmful Influences exerted on
today’s children by the mass
communications media.
MAY HILL Arbuthnot, the
1964 winner of the association's
Regina Medal for her “distin
guished contributions to child
ren’s literature,” made the ob
servation In her acceptance ad
dress at the awards luncheon
(March 31).
“Unless we can counteract
the banal, the brutal and the
hedonistic to which they are ex
posed, how are they to grow up
MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT parish’s Altar Society recently
held Its annual dinner in the Parish House. The event comme
morated the Feast of St. Joseph, the Society’s patron. Mrs,
Catherine Young was in charge of arrangements.
with any Ideals of wholesome,
ha’ppy living?” she asked of
children.
“This is where books come
to the rescue," Mrs. Arbuthnot
said.
She then gave examples of lit
erary treasures which help
build In the child his beliefs in
the nobility of life. Biographies
are valuable, precisely because
they carry the “impact of rea
lity,” she said.
AT THEIRfinal business ses
sion (April 3), delegates ap
proved a resolution expressing
their “wholehearted approval
their “wholehearted approval”
of the Library Service and Con
struction Act, recently passed
by Congress and signed by the
President.
The CLA also announced that
its annual $600 scholarship has
been awarded to Mary Lucy
Franzman of Mundelein Col
lege, Chicago. Miss Franzman
will do graduate study in library
science at Rosary College at
River Forest, Ill.
Contest winner for National
Catholic Book Week also were
disclosed. Sister Timothy of
Marymount Junior High School,
Los Angeles, was the winner in
the elementary division while
Sister Mary Stanislaus, of Xa
vier University Prep School,
New Orleans, took top honors
in the high school level. Mrs.
L. Ingenthran of Most Precious
Blood Parish, Denver, won the
parish level award.
Next year’s convention will
be held April 20 to 23 in Phila
delphia.
Sister Claudia, association
president-elect from Mary-
grove College, Detroit, will be
Installed for a two-y9ar term
at the 1965 meeting.
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I.A.F. CHAPLAIN—A full-
fledged fireman while work
ing his way through the
seminary. Father Frank J.
Foster (above), assistant
pastor of St Benedict's
Church. San Antonio, has
been appointed the Interna
tional Association of Fire
Fighters’ first official chap
lain. The son of a fire chief.
Father Foster for the past
nine years has been chaplain
of the local city firemen’s
welfare association and held
a similar post with the
Texas’ State Fire Fighters’
Association. The IAF is a
AFL-CIO organization of
100.000 members in the
United States and Canada.
Famous Icon
On View
SANFRANCISCO (NC) — The
Holy Icon of Our Lady of Ka
zan, perhaps the most venerat
ed of all Russian icons, will
be enshrined In a Catholic
church here April 12 and 13
in a display of Catholic-Ortho
dox exumenlsm.
Archbishop Joseph T. Mc-
Gucken of San Francisco will
lead the proces sion accompany
ing the icon into St. Boniface
church and will preside at a
Divine Liturgy (Mass) in the
Byzantine Rite and preach the
sermon.
J^in/iance in all U&
i£i written, uxe wAite U . . •
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