Special Message to the Congress on Civil Rights.

To the Congress of the United States:

In each of the past three years I have sent to the Congress a special message dealing with Civil Rights. This year I do so again, with feelings of both disappointment and pride:

--Disappointment, because in an ideal America we would not need to seek new laws guaranteeing the rights of citizens;

--Pride, because in America we can achieve and protect these rights through the political process.

The more we grapple with the civil rights problem--the most difficult domestic issue we have ever faced--the more we realize that the position of minorities in American society is defined not merely by law, but by social, educational, and economic conditions.

I can report to you steady progress in improving those conditions:

--More than 28 percent of nonwhite families now receive over $7,000 income a year--double the proportion of eight years ago in real terms.

--As of this month, 98 percent of America's hospitals have pledged themselves to nondiscrimination.

--The educational level of nonwhites has risen sharply: in 1966, 53 percent of the nonwhite young men had completed four years of high school, compared to 36 percent in 1960.

--The nonwhite unemployment rate has declined from 10.8 percent in 1963 to 7.4 percent in 1967.

--Great advances have been made in Negro voter registration--due to the enactment and enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the efforts of the people themselves. In the five Southern States where the Act has had its greatest impact, Negro voter registration has reached 1.5 million, more than double that in 1965.

--Negroes have been elected to public office with increasing frequency--in the North and in the South.

--Thousands of disadvantaged youths have received job training--and their first job opportunities--as a result of Federal programs.

--The proportion of Mexican-Americans enrolled in classes under the Manpower Development and Training Act, and as Neighborhood Youth Corpsmen, in the five Southwestern States is double their 12 percent ratio in the population.

--Twenty-one States, and more than 80 cities and counties, have enacted fair housing laws.

But I must also report that:

--One out of three nonwhite families still lives below the poverty level.

--The infant mortality rate for nonwhite children is nearly double that of whites. And it is nearly three times as high for children 28 days to one year of age.

--The percentage of nonwhites who have completed high school is still far below that of whites. And the quality of education in many predominantly Negro schools remains inferior.

--The nonwhite unemployment rate, while declining, is still twice as high as that for whites.

--A survey conducted in two Southwestern cities revealed that almost one out of two Mexican-American workers living in the slums faced severe employment problems.

--In too many areas of the Nation, election time remains a period of racial tension.

--Despite the growing number of States and local communities which have outlawed racial discrimination in housing, studies in some cities indicate that residential segregation is increasing.

--Despite the progress that many Negroes have achieved, living conditions in some of the most depressed slum areas have actually worsened in the past decade.

In the State of the Union message last week I spoke of a spirit of restlessness in our land. This feeling of disquiet is more pronounced in race relations than in any other area of domestic concern.

Most Americans remain true to our goal: the development of a national society in which the color of a man's skin is as irrelevant as the color of his eyes.

In the context of our history, this goal will not be easily achieved. But unless we act in our time to fulfill our first creed: that "all men are created equal"--it will not be achieved at all.

OWE NATION

Though the creed of equality has won acceptance among the great majority of our people, some continue to resist every constructive step to its achievement.

The air is filled with the voices of extremists on both sides: --Those who use our very successes as an excuse to stop in our tracks, and who decry the awakening of new expectations in people who have found cause to hope.

--Those who catalogue only our failures, declare that our society is bankrupt and promote violence and force as an alternative to orderly change.

These extremes represent, I believe, forms of escapism by a small minority of our people. The vast majority of Americans--Negro and white--have not lent their hearts or efforts to either form of extremism. They have continued to work forcefully--and lawfully---for the common good.

America is a multiracial nation. Racism-under whatever guise and whatever sponsorship--cannot be reconciled with the American faith.

This is not to deny the vitality of our diversity. Our people are blessed with a variety of backgrounds. Pride in our national origins, in our religions, in our ethnic affiliations, has always been an American trait. It has given to all our people that sense of community, of belonging, without which life is empty and arid.

Our continuing challenge has been to preserve that diversity, without sacrificing our sense of national purpose; to encourage the development of individual excellence, without yielding in our pursuit of national excellence for all.

EDUCATION FOR ALL

We confront this challenge squarely in the area of education.

Our Nation is committed to the best possible education for all our children. We are also committed to the constitutional mandate that prohibits segregated school systems.

Some maintain that integration is essential for better education. Others insist that massive new investments in facilities and teachers alone can achieve the results we desire.

We continue to seek both goals: better supported--and unsegregated--schools.

Thus far, we can claim only a qualified success for our efforts:

--We still seek better methods to teach disadvantaged youngsters--to awaken their curiosity, stimulate their interest, arouse their latent talent, and prepare them for the complexities of modern living.

--We still seek better methods to achieve meaningful integration in many of the various communities across our land-in urban ghettoes, in rural counties, in suburban districts.

But our lack of total success should spur our efforts, not discourage them.

In the last year many States, cities, communities, school boards and educators have experimented with new techniques of education, and new methods of achieving integration. We have learned much from these experiments. We shall learn much more.

We do know that progress in education cannot be designed in Washington, but must be generated by the energies of local school boards, teachers and parents. We know that there is no single or simple answer to the questions that perplex us. But our National goals are clear: desegregated schools and quality education. They must not be compromised.

THE TASK AHEAD

We must continue the progress we have made toward achieving equal justice and opportunity:

--through the enforcement of existing laws;

--through legislation that will protect the rights and extend the opportunities of all Americans.

IN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

The Department of Justice has just completed its most active year:

--Convictions were obtained in the important conspiracy case involving the deaths of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

--A record number of civil rights suits were filed, involving school desegregation and discrimination in employment and public accommodations.

--The first Northern suit alleging voting discrimination was filed, and examiners were sent into 15 additional counties to assure fair registration and voting.

--The Community Relations Service has helped some 260 communities to resolve human relations problems.

Other Federal agencies have been equally active:

--The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare is now examining statistical reports from some 2,000 school districts throughout America

--to insure compliance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, forbidding discrimination in such matters as the quality of school facilities and the establishment of school boundaries.

--The Office of Federal Contract Compliance of the Department of Labor stepped-up and broadened its enforcement of the Executive Order forbidding discrimination in employment by Federal contractors.

--The Secretary of Defense has moved to encourage the desegregation of housing facilities surrounding military bases, thus making available thousands of additional homes to members of the Armed Forces and their families regardless of their race.¹

¹A memorandum to the President from the Secretary of Defense marking the 20th anniversary of President Truman's 1948 desegregation order and citing progress since that time is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 4, p. 1154).

--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has speeded the desegregation of public housing by establishing new site and tenant selection policies. He has initiated counseling services for low and moderate income families and has reorganized the Department's civil rights staff.

We will continue to expand our efforts. For wherever the Federal Government is involved, it must not be even a silent partner in perpetuating unequal treatment.

THE URGENT NEED FOR LEGISLATIVE

ACTION

The legacy of the American past is political democracy--and an economic system that has produced an abundance unknown in history.

Yet our forefathers also left their unsolved problems. The legacy of slavery--racial discrimination-is first among them.

We have come a long way since that August day in 1957, when the first civil rights bill in almost a century was passed by the Congress.

At our recommendation, the Congress passed major civil rights legislation--far stronger than the 1957 Act--in 1964 and 1965. The 89th Congress passed ground-breaking legislation of enormous importance to disadvantaged Americans among us--in education, in health, in manpower training, in the war against poverty. The First Session of the 90th Congress has continued these programs.

Yet critical work remains in creating a legal framework that will guarantee equality and opportunity for all. A start was made in the First Session of this Congress:

--The life of the Civil Rights Commission was extended for an additional five years.

--The House of Representatives approved legislation aimed at preventing violent interference with the exercise of civil rights. The Senate Judiciary Committee has reported a similar bill, which is now being debated on the floor of the Senate.

--The Senate passed a bill to reform the system of Federal jury selection.

--Hearings were held in the Senate on State jury legislation, on equal employment opportunity amendments, and on a Federal fair housing law.

In this session, I appeal to the Congress to complete the taste it has begun. --To strengthen Federal criminal laws prohibiting violent interference with the exercise of civil rights.

--To give the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the authority it needs to carry out its vital responsibilities.

--To assure that Federal and State juries are selected without discrimination.

--To make equal opportunity in housing a reality for all Americans.

PROTECTING THE EXERCISE OF CIVIL RIGHTS

A Negro parent is attacked because his child attends a desegregated public school. Can the Federal courts punish the assailant? The answer today is only "perhaps."

A Negro is beaten by private citizens after seeking service in a previously all-white restaurant. Can the Federal courts punish this act? Under existing law the answer is "no," unless that attack involved a conspiracy. Even there the answer is only "maybe."

Grown men force a group of Negro children from a public park. The question most Americans would ask is what punishment these hoodlums deserve. Instead, the question before the Federal court is whether it has jurisdiction.

The reach of century-old criminal civil rights laws is too restricted to assure equal justice to the persons they were designed to protect. Yet the right of Americans to be free of racial or religious discrimination--in voting, using public accommodations, attending schools--must be firmly secured by the law.

The existing criminal laws are inadequate:

--The conduct they prohibit is not set out in clear, precise terms. This ambiguity encourages drawn-out litigation and disrespect for the rule of law.

--These laws have only limited applicability to private persons not acting in concert with public officials. As a result, blatant acts of violence go unpunished.

--Maximum penalties are inadequate to suit the gravity of the crime when in-

jury or death result. The bill reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee remedies each of these deficiencies. It would prohibit the use of force to prevent the exercise by minorities of rights most of us take for granted:

--Voting, registering to vote, or campaigning for any office in Federal or State elections.

--Attending a public school or public college.

--Obtaining service at public accommodations.

--Serving or qualifying to serve on State or Federal juries.

--Obtaining a job, on the basis of ability, with any private or public employer.

--Using any Federal, State or local public facility,

--Participating in Federally-assisted programs or activities.

--Riding in a public carrier.

The bill would apply to any individual or group--public or private--that sought to prevent the exercise of these rights by violent means. And it would tailor the penalties to meet the seriousness of the offense.

We know that State and local authorities have often been slow, unwilling, or unable to act when lawful and peaceful attempts to exercise civil rights drew a violent response.

The Mississippi convictions of this year, and other recent cases, have given dramatic evidence that Federal laws can reach those who engage in conspiracies against law-abiding citizens. It is therefore imperative that these laws be clear and their penalties effective.

This bill will strengthen the hand of Federal law enforcement to protect our citizens wherever they encounter--because of their race, color or religion--violence or force in their attempt to enjoy established civil rights. Beyond this limited area, law enforcement is left where it belongs--in the hands of the States and local communities.

EMPLOYMENT

For most Americans, the Nation's continuing prosperity has meant increased abundance. Nevertheless, as I noted earlier, the unemployment rate for nonwhites has remained at least twice the rate for whites.

Part of the answer lies in job training to overcome educational deficiencies and to teach new skills. Yesterday I asked the Congress for a $2.1 billion manpower program to assist 1.3 million of our citizens. A special three-year effort will be made to reach 500,000 hard-core unemployed of all races and backgrounds in our major cities.

But we must assure our citizens that once they are qualified, they will be judged fairly on the basis of their capacities.

Even where the Negro, the Puerto Rican, and the Mexican-American possess education and skills, they are too often treated as less than equal in the eyes of those who have the power to hire, promote and dismiss. The median income of college-trained nonwhites is only $6,000 a year. The median income of college-trained whites is over $9,000--more than 50 percent higher.

The law forbids discrimination in employment. And we have worked to enforce that law:

--More than 150 cases of employment discrimination are under investigation by the Department of Justice.

--Lawsuits have been filed to stop patterns and practices of discrimination by employers and unions in the North as well as the South.

But the Justice Department does not bear the major responsibility for enforcing equal employment opportunity. Congress created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1964 to receive and investigate individual complaints, and to attempt to eliminate unlawful employment practices by the informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion.

This authority has yielded its fruits. Many employers and unions have complied through this process. We have gained valuable knowledge about discriminatory practices and employment patterns.

Since last September, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has, for the first time, processed more complaints than it has received, thereby reducing its backlog. In the last six months, the Commission increased its investigation rate more than 45 percent over the rate for 1966, and doubled the number of conciliations for the same period a year ago. Last month more complaints were investigated than in any month in EEOC history.

Yet even this stepped-up activity cannot reach those who will not agree voluntarily to end their discriminatory practices. As a result, only part of our economy is open to all workers on the basis of merit. Part remains closed because of bias.

The legislation that I submitted last year would empower the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to issue, after an appropriate hearing, an order requiring an offending employer or union to cease its discriminatory practices and to take corrective action. If there is a refusal to comply with the order, the Government would be authorized to seek enforcement in the Federal courts.

I urge the Congress to give the Commission the power it needs to fulfill its purpose.

FEDERAL JURIES

The Magna Carta of 1215--the great English charter of liberties---established a fundamental principle of our system of criminal justice: trial by jury. Our Constitution guarantees this precious right and its principles require a composition of juries that fairly represents the community.

In some Federal judicial districts this goal has not been achieved, for methods of jury selection vary sharply:

--Some selection systems do not afford Negroes or members of other minorities an adequate opportunity to serve as jurors.

--Some obtain an excessively high proportion of their jurors from the more affluent members of the community, and thus discriminate against others.

In many cases these are unintentional deviations from the principle of a representative jury. But the Federal courts must be free from all unfairness--intentional or unintentional. They must be free, as well, from the appearance of unfairness.

In the first session of this Congress, I proposed, and the Judicial Conference supported, a Federal Jury bill. The Senate passed a bill that would require each judicial district to adopt a jury selection plan relying upon random selection, voter lists, and objective standards.

This bill guarantees a fairly chosen and representative jury in every Federal court, while retaining flexibility to allow for differing conditions in judicial districts.

I urge the House of Representatives to pass it early in this session.

STATE JURIES

Our system of justice requires fairly selected juries in State as well as Federal courts.

But under our Federal system, the States themselves have the primary duty to regulate their own judicial systems. The role of the Federal government is to ensure that every defendant in every court receives his Constitutional right to a fairly selected jury.

The Federal courts have acted to secure this right by overturning convictions when the defendant established that this jury was improperly selected. But this process-of conviction, appeal, reversal, and retrial--is burdensome on our courts, tardy in protecting the right of the defendant whose case is involved and ineffective in changing the underlying procedure for all defendants.

The legislation I have proposed would make it unlawful to discriminate on account of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or economic status in qualifying or selecting jurors in any State court.

It would empower the Attorney General to enjoin the operation of discriminatory selection systems--but only after he has notified the appropriate State officials of the alleged violation, and afforded them reasonable opportunity to correct it.

The jury is one of the most cherished institutions of our Republic. Its selection should be no less fair in the State than in the Federal court system.

FAIR HOUSING

The National Housing Act of 1949 proclaimed a goal for the Nation: "A decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family." We have not achieved this goal.

This year I shall send to the Congress a message dealing with our cities--calling for $1 billion for the Model Cities program-and calling upon the Congress, industry and labor to join with me in a ten-year campaign to build six million new decent housing units for low and middle-income families.

But construction of new homes is not enough--unless every family is free to purchase and rent them. Every American who wishes to buy a home, and can afford it, should be free to do so.

Segregation in housing compounds the Nation's social and economic problems. When those who have the means to move out of the central city are denied the chance to do so, the result is a compression of population in the center. In that crowded ghetto, human tragedies--and crime--increase and multiply. Unemployment and educational problems are compounded--because isolation in the central city prevents minority groups from reaching schools and available jobs in other areas.

The fair housing legislation I have recommended would prohibit discrimination in the sale or rental of all housing in the United States. It would take effect in three progressive stages:

--Immediately, to housing presently covered by the Executive Order on equal opportunity in housing.

--Then, to dwellings sold or rented by a nonoccupant, and to units for five or more families.

--And finally to all housing. It would also:

--Outlaw discriminatory practices in the financing of housing, and in the services

of real estate brokers.

--Bar the cynical practice of "block-busting," and prohibit intimidation of persons seeking to enjoy the rights it grants and protects.

--Give responsibility for enforcement to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and authorize the Attorney General to bring suits against patterns or practices of housing discrimination.

A fair housing law is not a cure-all for the Nation's urban problems. But ending discrimination in the sale or rental of housing is essential for social justice and social progress.

CONCLUSION

For many members of minority groups, the past decade has brought meaningful advances. But for most minorities--locked in urban ghettoes or in rural areas--economic and social progress has come slowly.

When we speak of overcoming discrimination we speak in terms of groups--Indians, Mexican-Americans, Negroes, Puerto Ricans and other minorities. We refer to statistics, percentages, and trends.

Now is the time to remind ourselves that these are problems of individual human beings--of individual Americans.

--Housing discrimination means the Negro veteran of Vietnam cannot live in an apartment which advertises vacancies.

--Employment statistics do not describe the feeling of a Puerto Rican father who cannot earn enough to feed his children.

--No essay on the problems of the slum can reveal the thoughts of a teenager who believes there is no opportunity for him as a law-abiding member of society.

Last summer our Nation suffered the tragedy of urban riots. Lives were lost; property was destroyed; fear and distrust divided many communities.

The prime victims of such lawlessness--as of ordinary crime--are the people of the ghettoes.

No people need or want protection--the effective, non-discriminatory exercise of the police power--more than the law-abiding majority of slum-dwellers. Like better schools, housing, and job opportunities, improved police protection is necessary for better conditions of life in the central city today. It is a vital part of our agenda for urban America.

Lawlessness must be punished--sternly and promptly.

But the criminal conduct of some must not weaken our resolve to deal with the real grievances of all those who suffer discrimination. Nothing can justify the continued denial of equal justice and opportunity to every American.

Each forward step in the battle against discrimination benefits all Americans.

I ask the Congress to take another forward step this year--by adopting this legislation fundamental to the human rights and dignity

of every American.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

January 24, 1968