February 2013


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com Your Opinion Matters


50 Years of Moving America Toward Justice: Reflections on Civil Rights Milestones and Struggles


BY BARBARA R. ARNWINE The African principle of Sankofa


means to move forward while always remembering the lessons of the past. The next several years will present some of the most important anniversaries in American history; including the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the bitter sacrifice of so many lives, including the assassination of Medgar Evers and the founding of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.


As with the Sankofa principle, it


is imperative that we reflect upon the 50 years of civil rights victories and struggles since the historic year of 1963, which, in many ways, launched the modern civil rights movement. It was during this time of transformative change for our nation that the Lawyers’ Committee was established.


The summer of 1963 saw murders,


bombs, beatings, jailing and threats to those who sought an equal society. It also witnessed the collective public rise up through open demonstrations and other joint public actions that sought to expose and end racial discrimination and segregation. On June 11, Alabama Governor George Wallace made his infamous vow to prevent court-ordered desegregation of the University of Alabama. On June 12, Medgar Evers, field secretary for the NAACP, was tragically assassinated by a member of the White Citizens Council in Jackson, Miss. On Aug. 28, at the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired the world with his “I Have a Dream” speech.


Earlier that summer, facing this


unprecedented time of strife and hope, President John F. Kennedy took to national television to call for a new positive civil rights legal framework, stating, “It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets.”


On June 21, 1963, he convened a


historic meeting of some 244 lawyers from throughout the United States and called for the formation of the Lawyers’ Committee to mobilize the considerable “pro bono” resources of the private bar in the leadership of the fight for racial justice.


I have been privileged to lead this organization for the last 24 years. As


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travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train our workers.


Together, we discovered that a


free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.


Together, we resolved that a great


nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.


Through it all, we have never


relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.


But we have always understood Barbara R. Arnwine


we celebrate our 50th anniversary this year with the national “Toward Justice” campaign, we will be engaging an army of lawyers, grass-roots activists and ordinary Americans in this fight for racial and social justice and inspiring a new generation of leaders. Our campaign is chaired by Rep. John Lewis, the great civil rights leader. Along with his wife, Lillian Miles Lewis, who sadly passed away Dec. 31, 2012, Congressman Lewis has fought for decades to utilize the political sphere to advance civil rights.


In the 50 years since 1963, we


have seen major legislative civil rights victories, including the passage of landmark legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Fair Housing Act of 1968, all of which have been subsequently amended to address the changing landscape of racial injustice. Additionally, we have fought in the courts on behalf of millions of clients to give true meaning to the promise of racial justice, emboldened in the states by the enforcement of these laws by attorneys general. Yet our nation still faces tremendous challenges in actualizing a reality of tangible racial justice.


During the 2012 elections, we


successfully battled against new voter suppression laws in 46 states designed to disenfranchise specific categories of voters, including racial minorities, the young, the elderly, low-income people and the disabled. Those proposed laws represented a symptom of the many


CIVIL RIGHTS PAGE 15


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that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people. (Applause.)


This generation of Americans


has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. (Applause.) An economic recovery has begun. (Applause.) America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together. (Applause.)


For we, the people, understand


that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. (Applause.) We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the


The Hampton Roads Messenger 3 Inaugural Address


brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own. (Applause.)


We understand that outworn


programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.


We, the people, still believe that


every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. (Applause.) For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.


We do not believe that in this


country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. (Applause.) They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. (Applause.)


We, the people, still believe that


our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. (Applause.) Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.


The path towards sustainable


energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. We cannot cede to other


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