Benjamin Watson Quotes
It's a sin problem, not a skin problem.
Watson, Benjamin. Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race. Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us. Tyndale House Publishers, 2015.
The reason this quotation is important, it was the first time in American history that a President had tied racial discrimination to morality. Before that other Presidents had argued against segregation on pragmatic grounds or on legal, Constitutional grounds. Kennedy’s private moral declaration had a huge impact on Black leaders throughout the country who heard about it by word of mouth. That statement forged a bond between JFK and Blacks while most whites did not see anything striking in the statement.
For a similar sentiment, see Thurgood Marshall.
This quotation is important for two reasons. First, it shows how important the clergy of the nation were in calling for the passage of the bill. Second, it illustrates the total blind spot that Southern leaders had on the Segregation issue. It never occurred to Russell and many other Southerners that discrimination and denial of civil rights WAS a moral issue. They saw it purely as political.
The Confederates were very clear that slavery was the cause of the war. Revisionists later tried to add other motives to the Southern cause, but Grant and all the contemporaries on both sides knew slavery was the crux of the matter. So the Confederate cause was the right to brutalize, torture, and even kill an unwilling labor force that was unpaid. No war in history had ever been fought for such a lowly cause and the Confederate leadership skills were amazing in keeping up morale without a decent cause to fight for.
Benjamin Seth Watson is a former American football tight end. He was drafted by the New England Patriots 32nd overall in the 2004 NFL Draft and later he would win Super Bowl XXXIX with the team over the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at Georgia. Watson has also played for the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and New Orleans Saints.
