After 80 years of Congressional failure to act favorably on any civil rights measures, enactment of such legislation “is long overdue” Irving M. Engel president of the American Jewish Committee, declared here today in testimony submitted to a House Judiciary subcommittee. He contrasted Federal failure with legislative enactment by 14 states and 36 cities banning racial and religious discrimination in employment, education, housing and places of public accommodation.
Declaring that “the American Jewish Committee believes that it is time that Federal civil rights legislation moved beyond the stage of committee hearings and reports,” Mr. Engel urged Congress to protect the right to equality of opportunity in employment; to set up a commission to evaluate the status of our civil rights and to report periodically to the Congress and the executive branch of the Government, and to raise the stature of the Civil Rights Section of the Department of Justice to a division, under the supervision of an Assistant Attorney General, staffed and capable of stepping in to protect the civil rights of citizens when they are threatened.
Mr. Engel also suggested to Congress that it strengthen the Federal civil rights statutes to permit the invocation of Federal jurisdiction whenever citizens are threatened or molested by state or municipal officials for asserting their constitutional or civil rights; outlaw racial segregation in interstate transportation and in all other areas subject to Federal regulation or jurisdiction; and make lynching a Federal offense.
In his testimony Mr. Engel asserted: “Constitutional guarantees, historical documents and basic traditions, wonderful though they may be, only establish the principles to which we Americans are dedicated. It still takes people to put these principles into practice and keep them alive. And because there are always some people who are slow or unwilling to do what is right, it also takes laws to make people act as they should.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
