EQUALITY ON A SILVER PLATTER?
By Evelyn Sell
. The United States Senate finally passed the controversial civil-rights bill after a record~smashing 83 days of debate, Although the Senate made over 100 changes in the bill it is certain that the House will promptly approve the measure and speed it on to President Johnson so that it can be. signed into law in time for Americats Independence Day celebration on July 4.
All 100 senators were on hand for the vote on the civilrights bill so that we have a very interesting and revealing set of statistics, The final vote was 75 for and 27 against, Of those voting for the bill. 46 were Democrats and 27 were Republicans, Of those voting against, 21 were Democrats and 6 Republicans, This means that almost 69% of the Democrats voted for the bill and 31% voted against. <A solid one-third.-of the Democrats in the Senate went on record as against civil-rights legislation -- and this is the party that poses as "the best friend the Negro.ever had!" This is the party that gets 80% of the Negro vote election after election!
The Republican party, in percentage terms, made a much bet~ ter showing in this particular instance. Almost * god of the Repub lican senators voted for the civilerights bill while only 18% voted against the measure. However, the senators voting against were 5 Goldwater supporters and Goldwater himself, Since Goldwater is presently the leading contender for the Republican nomination for president, there is a great amount of consternation and speculation about his. "tno" vote and what it would mean if Goldwater did run for president, :
The liberal wing of the Republican party has been working — hard to woo away some of the Negro votes from the Democrats, ‘Gold~ water. is now appearing as the champion of the so-called white. counterrevolution, Predictions are that if he runs, Goldwater will grab away many Southern racist votes from Democratic nominee John-~ son who strongly supported passage of’. the clvilerights bill.
- Politicians in both parties are trying to second-guess the:
voting trends and moods among the American people. The shrewder guessers will win the presidency for their party. But will the Negroes and civilerights supporters win anything with either capitalist party in office? Past performance proves that there is actually Little choice between the twin parties of American capitalism, Call them Demopublicans or Republocrats, they're both essentially the same, coe . ;
The real victories for civil+rights have been and will continue to be won in the streets. The introduction of this current civil~rights legislation was designed to get the battles out of the streets and into the law courts where sharp lawyers and the long delaying tactics of bourgeois justice would emasculate civil-rights gains and prolong the Jim Crow system,
The capitalist politicians have, of course, hailed passage of the civil-rights bill. They're acting as if they have just handed the Negro people equality on a silver platter. They're trying to create the illusion that without them and their phony Congressional dramatics Jim Crow would never be destroyed. A typical comment was made by President Johnson who called passage of the bill "a major step toward equal opportunities for all Americans,"
"I congratulate senators of both parties," the President said, “who worked to make passage possible,"
What really pushed through the civil-rights bill was the mounting Negro revolt in this country and the promised "long hot summer" of civil-rights demonstrations, The bill was passed at this time to head off the summer's aotivities but it appears that instead militant Negroes will now intensify their struggle in order to test the effectiveness of the new legislation.
Even the more conservative Negro leaders greeted the billts passage with mixed sentiments, Roy Wilkins, head of the huge National Association for the Advancement of .Colored People LNAAOP] said the approved bill was “a giant step forward, not only for Negro citizens but for our country." Then he added that he believed the "law may reduce the number of demonstrations but I cannot pre dict that it will eliminate them," Oe
Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality [CORE] have promised continued demonstrations in the South to test the bill's provisions this summer. James Foreman, one of the leaders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee [SNCC] said that the first group of students trained for an assault on Mississippi Jim Crow will leave for the South June 22,
- There is no cease-fire. in the war against segregation and second-class citizenship, Negroes have learned their lesson well, There is little reliance on fine~sounding laws but there is great confidence in their own abilities to make civil rights a living
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reality through militant struggles.
Riohard. Henry, head of the Detroit. Group on Advanced Leadership [GOAL], voiced the sentiments of many Negroes when he said, "We weloome passage of the,bill in that certain aspects represent a possible legal improvement, especially with regard to public accomnodations and vote guarantees," But -~ "There is no evidence . yet that this bill will be. enforced any better than past civil-. rights measures,"
Enforeing the bill will, ultimately, depend on the strength of the Freedom Now movement, The long hot summer is ahead,