25th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education Remarks at a White House Observance of the Supreme Court Decision.

I did not want to discriminate against Andy Young by interrupting his comments. [Laughter]

Although we meet today to remember a great civil rights victory, this is also a time of loss for the civil rights movement, because, as you know, A. Philip Randolph is no longer with us.

At a time when America was a completely segregated society, when there was hardly any civil rights movement that could be detected, Philip Randolph was a voice for justice and equal rights for all Americans.

His impact has been profound and farreaching. It's staggering to think that one man could have done so much to transform our Nation. I'm certain that there's no one in this room—certainly including the President—whose life has not been profoundly influenced by Philip Randolph's example.

His accomplishments are known to all of you. He organized the first black trade union in 1925. He organized and led the first march on Washington in 1941. He was probably the most instrumental figure during the Second World War in opening up industries, when our Nation was fighting for freedom, to give employment to black people.

But what he gave us most of all was the power of his example, his great personal dignity, his absolute integrity, his eloquence, his unshakable commitment to justice and equal rights, combined with a remarkable gentleness and humanity and commitment to nonviolence. His values and his ideals have been the guiding spirit of the modern civil rights movement. And even the equally famous leaders who have lived, I'm sure, would agree with that statement.

A. Philip Randolph is no longer with us, but his vision and his example, his inspiration still guides all of us today. Before I begin my own remarks, I would like for us to observe just a moment of silence in his memory.
Thank you very much.

I come today to meet with this distinguished group, with a sense of family, a sense of binding ourselves together as a family should, in times of celebration, in times of challenge, in times of achievement, in times of disappointment.

Twenty-five years ago, the legal basis for segregation was struck down in this Republic by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. This was the most important of all civil rights cases, and there have been many important ones.

Twenty-five years later, today, the basis in reality for racial segregation still exists in our schools, and so does discrimination in housing and in other aspects of human life. But let us not be discouraged. Let us just be even more determined.

Three hundred and sixty years ago, the first enslaved people were unloaded from a ship on the shores of Virginia, and 1 year later, the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock to join with others later on in founding a free society. This, in a real sense, has been the story of America—a struggle to resolve this horrible contradiction between hopes and dreams of freedom and equality on one hand and the facts of life on the other.

A sad truce in this struggle was dictated, I believe, in 1896, when the Supreme Court—by a vote of 8 to 1—made the fraudulent Jim Crow concept of separate-but-equal the law of the land.

We know that there can be no lasting peace here or throughout the world without justice. And this fact was also known by thousands of organizers, teachers, lawyers, preachers, laborers, ordinary parents, students, who kept on clearing the way for May 17, 1954, when something changed at last.

Even as Chief Justice Warren began to read the decision, the wire service bells rang out, and every single newsroom in the United States became deathly silent.

First of all, it was black people themselves who were appearing before the courts in defense of their own rights. That was different. There had been change.

Second, the court was unanimous. All nine members spoke as one for the conscience of our country. That was different. There had been a change.

Third, there were thousands who now felt free to work side by side, in State by State, changing law after law. Many of you in this room helped to make those changes and to bring about those differences in the life of America.

I don't have to tell you that change is not easy. And you certainly don't have to tell me that change is difficult. The evidence is everywhere. Too many doors are still locked.

In one area significant legal action is still necessary. We have to realize that the promise of equal opportunity in housing, if we are to make the educational benefits of the Brown decision as available to the northern poor as they are becoming in the South. We need to amend the Fair Housing Act to remove the burden and the expense of enforcement of the law from the shoulders of the poor victims of housing discrimination. I've urged Congress to give HUD, Housing and Urban Development Department, the power to resolve complaints directly, and to provide Secretary Pat Harris with cease and desist authority.

This is not going to easy. But it's a very significant challenge to us, and your help—this group in this room—if inspired and motivated and organized, could get enough votes to pass it out of committee and to pass it easily in the Congress. But without your help, I'm afraid we still may not be successful. I propose that we do it now without delay, and that all of us join in together in this effort.

The first great campaign of the war for equality, I know you realize, was completed in this room—in this house, just above this room—with the Emancipation Proclamation to eliminate slavery. Second was the elimination of legalized social oppression, in which Brown was a decisive decision and a victory.

The third campaign for equal opportunity in the economic structure of our , country may be the most difficult of all. Victory here will demand both determination and sensitivity. We all know that the final economic struggle will not be won tomorrow, even after 361 years since the first slaves came to our free country. But I believe that we can bring about the wisdom of history and the will of our time, and that once again we shall overcome, because in the long run, Americans are proudest of our Nation's progress toward world peace, but of social justice and a fair and an open and an equitable economic order.

Those are the goals of my administration and of this family gathered here today, to celebrate and to join with the unanimity of the nine Justices who spoke so clearly 25 years ago.

If you look around this reception, you'll see many of the 166 black Presidential appointments-appointees that I've been privileged to make. And there are also about the same number of black secretarial appointees here today. This is an unprecedented achievement, but we still have a long way to go together.

I'd like to announce today that we'll continue this process. I will nominate, for instance, Nat Jones, general counsel- [applause] —who's general counsel of the NAACP, to serve as a Federal judge in the sixth circuit of our judicial system.

And we are trying to continue the process of letting qualified and motivated black leaders serve in policymaking bodies, in addition to the judiciary and the executive branch of Government, the independent regulatory agencies. Marcus Alexis will be appointed as a new member of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

These men and others—the women who've been appointed and others—are making history today. But many of you were making history, I know, long before Brown did. Some of you have been born since then.

Let's remember the words of the Court 25 years ago and let it join us together again, and I quote—these are the words of Chief Justice Warren—"We come then to the question presented, does segregation of children in public schools, solely on the basis of race, deprive children of the minority group of equal education opportunities?"

And the Court then said, as the world waited, "We believe that it does."

By the same principle, would not poor quality in education also deprive a child of equal opportunity to enter the mainstream of the American economy? All of us are working together in the Government because we believe that such deprivation does exist, and we are here to see that all American children will have the equal opportunity for quality education.

Is it not true that racial discrimination in housing also deprives our children of equal opportunity? We're joined here today because we believe that it does, and we are committed to equal opportunity in housing.

Finally, do not all practices of exclusion by race from employment or advancement also result in depriving our citizens of their rights to equal opportunities? We are all here today because we know that that deprivation still exists and it does prevent equality of opportunity in our Nation.

We are in this Government to see that there will be equal opportunity for all people in every aspect of American life. We will not be pushed back. We will not be turned away. We will fight to see that no one is left outside, that equality of opportunity and justice will prevail in our country, the land of the free.

Thank you very much.

How many of you all are serving in the Government in any capacity, would you just raise your hands way up? [Laughter] As soon as you get through— [laughter] -as soon as you get through celebrating, let's all go back to work.