I'm talking, of course, about Lyndon Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Act into being 40 years ago today. The bill demanded equal rights in voting, education, public accommodations, union membership, and federally assisted programs, regardless of an individual's race, color, religion or national origin. Suddenly, minorities could no longer be told which bars and clubs and restaurants they could attend, which water fountains they could drink from. Furthermore, in one fell swoop, the bill Johnson had pushed so hard for gave racial minorities and women the right to apply for any job, effectively ending legal discrimination in employment based on race or gender.
The bill's effects were sweeping. At the time, Roy Wilkins, secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People called it "the Magna Carta of human rights." It's certainly the most significant piece of legislation in our nation's history.
In stark contrast, our current President, also from Texas, would like to be the first President to sign an amendment to the Constitution, which would encourage discrimination against an entire segment of the United States population.
Of course, aside from the fact that they both hail from Texas, Johnson and Bush do have another thing in common: they both lead us into ill-conceived wars during their administrations.
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