June 14, 2017
Page 7
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O PINION
Remembering the Life of John F. Kennedy at 100
His enduring
legacy for civil
rights
M arC h. M orial
“One hundred
years of delay have
passed since Presi-
dent Lincoln freed the
slaves, yet their heirs,
their grandsons, are not fully free.
They are not yet freed from the
bonds of injustice. They are not
yet freed from social and econom-
ic oppression. And this Nation, for
all its hopes and all its boasts, will
not be fully free until all its citi-
zens are free.” — President John
F. Kennedy, June 11, 1963 Ra-
dio and Television Report to the
American People on Civil Rights.
The trajectory and predominate
narrative of the civil rights move-
ment in our nation was forever
marked by a single day.
Just after midnight, in the ear-
liest moments of June 12, 1963,
Medgar Evers, a beloved civil
rights leader, would be shot to
death by a white supremacist in
the driveway of his home. On that
by
day, two African Americans, Vivi-
an Malone and James Hood, would
finally register as students at the
University of Alabama under the
federal protection of the Ala-
bama National Guard. Earlier
that evening, President Kenne-
dy, who had previously—and
rightfully—been criticized by
civil rights leaders for his tep-
id, ambivalent embrace of the
grand ambitions of the civil
rights movement, had addressed
our nation and cemented his place
in American history as an advocate
and partner in the civil rights strug-
gles of African Americans.
President Kennedy’s national
address was not supposed to be
delivered. Its broadcast depended
on the outcome of the protracted
battle happening on the Alabama
campus over the enrollment of
Malone and Hood. That morn-
ing, both prospective students at-
tempted to enroll in the university,
but were met by Alabama Gov.
George C. Wallace and a phalanx
of state troopers blocking the en-
trance to the university’s campus.
That infamous moment, now
known as the “stand in the school-
house door,” was a futile last stand
for Gov. Wallace, who pledged
“segregation now, segregation
tomorrow, segregation forever,”
during his inaugural address the
very same year. Gov. Wallace
stepped aside, Malone and Hood
enrolled later that day, and despite
the favorable outcome from this
very public showdown in Ala-
bama, the president resolved to
address our nation and the “moral
issue” of civil rights.
To his credit, the president did
more than provide lip service on
issues of inequality, discrimina-
tion, equal access to services,
voting rights and more. President
Kennedy went a step further and
proposed comprehensive civil
rights legislation, declaring that
“now the time has come for this
Nation to fulfill its promise.”
Fear for the passage of the
Civil Rights Act led Kennedy
initially to oppose the March on
Washington. In June 1963, civil
rights leaders including National
Urban League President Whitney
M. Young, K. Phillip Randolph,
Martin Luther King Jr., and John
Lewis, met with Kennedy and an-
nounced there would be a march.
Kennedy feared that any violence
at the march would deter members
of Congress from voting for the
bill. The civil rights leaders would
not be deterred, and Kennedy’s
enthusiasm for the march grew
during the summer. The success of
the march paved the way for pas-
sage of the Civil Rights Act.
But Kennedy did not get to see
his civil rights bill passed. A bullet
from an assassin’s gun would cut
his life short less than three months
after the march. It was his succes-
sor, President Lyndon B. Johnson,
who would pass the landmark
Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
prohibited and outlawed racial
discrimination and segregation in
public accommodations, employ-
ment, public education and feder-
ally assisted programs.
In his address to Congress,
President Johnson declared, “we
have talked long enough in this
country about equal rights. We
have talked for one hundred years
or more. It is time now to write the
next chapter, and to write it in the
books of law.”
The act, the most sweeping civ-
il rights legislation in the nation’s
history since the Reconstruction
era, laid the foundation for future
progressive legislation, including
the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
By President Kennedy’s re-
quest, the Lawyers’ Committee
for Civil Rights Under Law was
formed. The nonpartisan group
mounted civil rights cases with pro
bono support from private lawyers
in courtrooms across the nation—
and its work continues today.
On May 29th, we marked the
centenary of President Kennedy’s
birth. Whatever history has as-
signed to him as flaws, shortcom-
ings and misdeeds, he believed
our country could do better for all
of its citizens, regardless of race,
color or creed.
As we reflect on so much of his
enduring legacy, let us recommit
ourselves to ensuring that his evo-
lution and eventual stand on civil
rights are more than words on a
page in a dusty book, but a call to
continued action and activism un-
dergirded by the principle that “all
men are created equal, and that
the rights of every man are dimin-
ished when the rights of one man
are threatened.”
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.