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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, April 22, 1964
Part Three, Minority Rights
State Legislation
By Rick Mabbutt
Legislative action against discrimination in employment policies has not been limited solely to the federal government.
During the past two decades numerous states have experimented with Fair Employment Practices (FEP) laws making such discrimination unlawful.
Strong opposition has come from business organizations and labor unions who feel that such legislation infringes on their right to conduct their affairs in any manner they please.
"The opposition." Sen. Jaeob K. Javits (R-N.Y.) says in his book, "Discrimination, USA," "bases its public attitude on an 'appeal to reason.' It affirms its abhorrence of prejudice and discrimination, and supports equality of opportunity. But its leaders argue that legislation cannot prevent discrimination. They quote Henry Thomas Buckle, the English historian as follows:
"TO SEEK TO CHANGE OPINIONS by law is worse than futile. It not only fails, but it causes a reaction which leaves the opinions stronger than ever. First, alter the opinion, and then you may alter the law."
"Much as I admire Buckle as a historian and thinker," Javits continues, "I believe this approach ignores the fact that law itself can teach. Scientists studying human behavior know now that the best way to restrain discrimination is to initiate a community pattern of non-discriminatory behavior. People living in integrated housing, for example—no matter how prejudiced they may have been—frequently come to appreciate neighbors of different racial and religious background just by living near them.
'LAWS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION operate in the same way. The law opens people's minds to the problem and a solution because behavior in violation of the law
may carry punishment with it; living with the law—and the overwhelming majority of our people is law-abiding—can and often does remove the prejudice."
Because of this philosophy, and despite the heavy opposition, FEP laws have been enacted by 25 states. An additional five states have adopted laws prohibiting discrimination but have not enacted FEP legislation as such.
One can understand the nature of antidiscrimination laws by examining the FEP legislation of Kansas. House Bill No.243, passed by the legislature in 1961, makes the following provisions:
IT FIRST EXPLAINS the attitude of the state toward discrimination in employment. "The practice or policy of discrimination against individuals in relation to employment by reason of their race, religion, color, national origin, or ancestry is a matter of concern to the state, that such discrimination threatens not only the rights and privileges of the inhabitants of the state of Kansas but menaces the institutions and foundations of a free democratic state.
"It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state of Kansas to eliminate discrimination in all employment relations. It is also declared to be the policy of this state to assure equal opportunities and encouragement to every citizen regardless of race, religion, color, national origin or ancestry, in securing and holding, without discrimination, employment in any field of work or labor for which he is properly qualified. It is further declared that the opportunity to secure and hold employment is a civil right of every citizen."
mission is given power to resolve matters of discrimination by conciliation and persuasion.
THE BILL ASO CREATED a fi v-e-member antidiscrimination commission to (1) develop broad-range education programs designed to prevent and eliminate discrimination . . . and (2) receive, investigate and resolve complaints alleging discrimination in employment . . . The Civil Rights Com-
The law forbids (1) an employer of eight or more workers to discriminate on the basis of race.
(2) Labor organizations do discriminate on a racial basis against a union member, an employer or an individual employed by an employer.
(3) Employers, employment agencies, or labor unions to use application forms which express, directly or indirectly, any limitation or discrimination because of race, "unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification."
(4) An employer or labor union to discriminate against or fire a person because he has opposed practices forbidden in the bill or because he has filed a complaint or testified under this act.
(5) Any person to coerce the doing of any acts forbidden under this act.
THE BILL ALSO gives the attorney general or county attorney power to secure enforcement of the commission's orders through writs of mandamus which command the defendant to perform some act, i.e., hire a qualified Negro worker, or through injunctions which forbid the defendant to do some act, i.e., discriminate or fire a qualified Negro laborer.
These provisions make House Bill No. 243 similar in many respects to the current federal civil rights bill and to FEP legislation in other states. Four states—Delaware, Vermont, Iowa and Idaho—have FEP laws administered judicially whereas the other 21 states carry out the laws through administrative bodies such as the Kansas Civil Rights Commission
Two other Kansas laws also forbid discrimination. One outlaws discrimination in hiring of workers for public works projects financed by state or municipal governments and the other prevents discriminatory labor unions to bargain with employers.
Cleveland Death
Clergy's Role
What should be the roles of the churches and clergy in the civil rights crisis? Many Americans must be asking themselves this since the death of the Rev. Bruce W. Klunder, the former Oregonian who was crushed by a bulldozer on a school construction site in Cleveland.
LOUIS LOMAX, NEGRO AUTHOR and integration leader, accused white ministers of having kept quiet when they should have spoken out for the brotherhood of all men. Failure of the churches, he said in an Urban League speech in Portland, has placed the cross of Christ in the hands of secularism.
As a generality, Mr. Lomax's accusation cannot be denied. Too many ministers of the gospel have failed to convey to their congregations the basic teachings of their professed religion. Too many church members have retained their prejudices against persons of minority races and faiths.
Lately clergymen have been in front ranks of the integration forces. Many of them have not only preached eloquently on the theme, but have marched with the demonstrators and have been arrested and jailed as a consequence. Community efforts to solve race problems and inequities in housing, employment, education, etc., are often led by white ministers. Many others are active participants in such endeavors.
UNDOUBTEDLY, IT IS TOO LATE merely to preach. The clergy must act as well. But the cause of civil rights will suffer rather than benefit from such incidents as the one in Cleveland. One casts no reflection on the motives or Christian dedication of the late Presbyterian minister in questioning his method of martyrdom. Lying down behind a bulldozer and being accidentally crushed by it will not end de facto segregation in Cleveland or elsewhere. Extremism can only bring strong reaction on whichever side it is practiced. The Rev. Mr. Klunder, who was held in high esteem by former classmates at Oregon State University and others who knew him, unquestionably could have done much more for race equality by other means.
The new school being built in a Negro section may consolidate de facto segregation in Cleveland. But it may also provide better facilities for education of a minority which needs it. The question is debatable: it cannot be solved by interfering with the workmen who are properly proceeding with the task they were hired to perform. Such methods can only result in death and rioting. This the clergy must seek to avoid as they continue to work for the human rights proclaimed both by their religion and by the U.S. Constitution.
- The Oregonian
"Say, About That 'Better Deal' ___ "
Red, Red--Other People
Rousselot, now the western district director of the John Birch Society, said many of the Negro civil rights leaders are Communists, and the rights bill is a power grab which the Reds will use later to take over the country.
Last Tuesday at the University of Oregon, one John H. Rousselot—former California congressman—delivered a fiery speech against the pending civil rights legislation.
Martin Luther King and Roy Wilkins both belong to Communist front groups, said Rousselot. In fact, Eleanor Roosevelt herself belonged to 80 front groups in her lifetime, Rousselot asserted.
THE OREGON DAILY Emerald reported: "Rousselot did not blame the Negroes or segregationists for the existing racial strife in certain areas of the country, but placed the blame 'where it properly belongs, on the shoulders of the Communist party of the United States.'"
The solution to race problems in the country, as Rousselot sees it, is to encourage Negroes to improve themselves and take advantage of the free enterprise system. The American people have a great deal of sympathy for all minority groups who are trying to be better Americans, the ex-congressman added.
Margaret Chase Smith is supposed to have spent less than $1,000 campaigning for the Illinois primary. However, the Maine senator polled almost one-third of the Republican votes cast. . . Three coeds recently de-activated from a Colorado University sorority because the national advisor attempted to stop one of the girls from dating a Negro. Said the advisor: "The problem was one of standards, a girl doesn't have a right to do as she pleases when she becomes a member of a group that upholds high standards." . . Other news from Boulder: There has been a recent dope investigation at the CU campus and several Marijuana users were arrested. A boy who played the role of informer to the police was beaten up three times by marijuana users.
The informer then attempted to commit suicide. . . A Conference on World Affairs panel has agreed that the American educational system destroys creativity. Stanley F. Reed, president of Reed Research Institution, commented on doctoral dissertations: "All modern Ph.D. theses I have seen are just a big, strained mass of analysis. There is no creativity involved. . . Nobel prize-winner Linus Pauling said Wednesday at San Jose State College that Red China should be admitted to the UN so her nuclear force might be controlled. Pauling, prominent anti-nuclear force crusader, said the UN "has kept the world from getting into a worse situation than it is and has done much in the settling of disputes." ...
Two thousand copies of Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" were sold in one week at Brigham Young University when Hoffer was there last week. George Lincoln Rockwell constantly referred to Hoffer's book in his KU speech. The Nazi takes his theory of crowd manipulation directly from Hoffer.
Dailij Hansan
111 Flint Hall
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