Political Quotes

“if there is a single Member of this House that believes that racial discrimination is nonexistent in America today, then I will vote for the Riggs amendment. That is what I thought. Mr. Chairman, I hope and pray that I will live long enough to see racial discrimination ended in this country. Unfortunately, I doubt that I will live that long, and certainly that day has not yet arrived. Until that day has arrived, affirmative action is a necessary limited means of using, of ensuring that equal opportunity is more than a hollow phrase in a high school civics textbook. The fact is, the Supreme Court has limited affirmative action to be a tool to ensure equal opportunity where discrimination has been proven. That is a vital tool in today's society where the problem is hardly that we have too many minorities in our public and private universities and colleges of America. Under the Riggs amendment, if Mark Furman had been an admissions director at a major public university, the wrongs of discrimination could not be righted by affirmative action. In the name of ending affirmative action, the Riggs amendment would institutionalize discrimination; and that, Mr. Chairman, is wrong.”