Freedom Road?

In a sweeping 178-page report, a special Presidential committee has come forward with a 25 plank proposal to end discrimination on racial and religious grounds in the United States. Included in the report are demands for Federal anti-poll tax, anti-lynching, and fair employment practices legislation; for Federal and State laws to prevent segregation or discrimination in schools, theaters, trains, and hotels; and for State laws against restrictive real estate covenants. On the surface, the committee's recommendations would appear to be a major blow in behalf of civil liberties.

However, such proposals are not new; the Civil Rights Acts of 1866, 1870, and 1875 actually contained most of these ideas, for they gave Federal courts full jurisdiction to maintain the equality of the races before the law, and banned discrimination in hotels, public conveyances, and places of amusement. Unfortunately, a Supreme Court which believed that the Fourteenth Amendment was designed to protect corporate rather than individual personalities ruled these laws unconstitutional.

What is significant about the report is that in this era, when civil liberties seem gradually to be evaporating, such a strong stand should be taken by such a highly placed committee. If written into law, the committee's proposal would certainly live up to President Truman's boast that it represents "an American charter of human freedom in our time." The "if," however, is a big one. Several states, notably New York with its Ives-Quinn Fair Employment Practices Act, have already taken steps along the lines the committee indicates. And the Republican Party stands pledged to bring anti-lynching and anti-poll tax legislation before the current Congress.

But a long gap must be bridged before campaign promises and committee proposals become reality. Promises and proposals are a first step, but the stair-way to complete protection of civil liberties is a long one, and many steps remain. Too often, progressive proposals find that Congressional pigeonholes are their graves. As the committee itself stressed, the time for action on these recommendations is "now."

Increasing police brutality, discrimination against Negroes even in the nation's capital city, racial segregation in the armed forces, the wartime treatment of West Coast Japanese-Americans, and wide-spread discriminatory practices in housing and education all give graphic support to Truman's statement that the need for a concrete program such as the committee offers "has never been greater than at this moment." Presidential recognition of the gravity of the situation is surely a hopeful sign. But even non-residents of Mr. Truman's home state will "want to be shown" Congressional and State civil liberties legislation, enforced to the hilt, before they start to cheer.