Benjamin Davis Jr. Quotes

This was a very courageous speech for the President to give. Senator Hubert Humphrey had proposed civil rights legislation. At the time most of the racial conservative members of Congress were Democrats and not Republicans as they would become after Civil Rights legislation actually passed in 1964. There was little possibility that the civil rights law would pass as the Southern Democrats could filibuster it in the Senate. None the less Truman supported the legislation and the principle of equal rights despite the fact that he was a Southerner and he knew he would lose the support of the conservative wing of his party.

This was actually a very courageous statement for an American politician running for national office. As a result of the pressure of this statement President Franklin Roosevelt allowed Black enlistment in the Army Air Forces.

He was not only an atheist himself, but he was a major opponent of organized religion which he regarded as one or the major initiators and drivers of slavery, segregation and discrimination. For this reason he was critical of Martin Luther King—{583307}. His irreligiosity had always prevented his gaining much support from his fellow African Americans even though a great writer like H. L. Menken considered Schuyler, "the best writer in America".

One reason that this is such a noteworthy quote is that Rubio was in the midst of his campaign for the Republican Presidential Nomination where only the most dedicated and generally conservative members of the party turn out to vote in the primaries. And a very large part of them were Southern racists who switched parties in response to the Civil Rights Act passage in 1964. Since then the very conservative wing of the party has had a de facto veto on Republican presidential candidates. Rubio's statement was the view of the majority of Americans and a significant number of Republicans, but this courageous statement of his true belief's risked his chances in the primary.

The first sentence is inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC. The last two sentences are rarely quoted.

In the 1940’s equality and Civil Rights was a good wedge issue for Republicans because the most racist members of Congress were Democrats even though there were many Democrats who advocated strong civil rights. In 1964, there was a party realignment after the Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. After that the most racist members of Congress and the political established switched to the Republican Party and this caused the Republicans to publicly soft pedal civil rights issues. It now became a wedge issue for the democrats, and very few national Republican figures would make such a statement as it would be misinterpreted by the racial right wing of the party.

Qutb was studying at Greeley College and with some Egyptian friends want to a movie theater. Greeley, even though not in the South, practiced racial discrimination in many of their public accommodations and the Civil Rights Law would not be passed for another 15 years or so. The ticked clerk at first would not sell tickets to the dark skinned Egyptians and when one protested, the owner was called. He ruled that as long as they were not American Blacks, they could enter. But Qutb refused.

Johnson was the first Black man who won the heavyweight championship at a time when racism in America was rampant. Many whites referred to Jeffries as “The Great White Hope” who would take the champion back for the whites. He didn’t and was beaten badly.

American Communist Party Newspaper. The communists were so supportive of the war effort that they were often unconditional defenders of the Roosevelt Administration’s war program. Most communists suspended their advocacy of labor strikes and Black enfranchisement during the war because it would ultimately lead to the weakening of the Allied efforts against the Nazis. Programs such as the “March on Washington Movement” were seen as untimely and therefore subversive and fascist. For more communist criticism of attempts during this period to further civil rights see {603312}

The communists were so supportive of the war effort that they were often unconditional defenders of the Roosevelt Administration’s war program. Most communists suspended their advocacy of labor strikes and Black enfranchisement during the war because it would ultimately lead to the weakening of the Allied efforts against the Nazis. Programs such as the “March on Washington Movement” were seen as untimely and therefore subversive. For more communist criticism of attempts during this period to further civil rights see {599051}

Perhaps there is no more dramatic quotation illustrating MacArthur’s arrogance where his own views and decisions should obviously prevail regardless of the policies of his superiors and his commander-in-chief. The army had been officially integrated by President Truman, The reality was that the general honestly believed that he had no superiors among the military, that civilians should not control the military, and in any event that the President—Truman—was not fit to be Commander-in-Chief.

Shortly after WWII, he became the largest builder in the United States. See {634380} for more depth on his view about segregated housing.

Malcolm was not an enthusiast of non violent, passive resistance a la Martin Luther King. He did not generally advocate general violence per se, but did preach the doctrine of the 21st century National Rifle Association: That everyone should be armed and use the weapons to thwart criminal attacks on them and their families. However at the time, many police departments commonly broke the law and attacked Blacks in many ways. If Malcolm had more followers there could easily have been armed pitched battles between blacks who had been attacked and police who even if their colleagues had violated the law, would not allow citizen armed defense. The non-violence of King and others, accomplished the objective with relatively few people killed and wounded. They were virtually all Black or white sympathizers however. The racists bore no physical casualties but their culture and way of life was destroyed.

There had been vicious assaults on most of the Black workers, when a few Negro welders were hired. The “compromise” was that the Negro workers would be protected from harm but there would be no Blacks in skilled positions. This was despite a huge labor shortage and a critical national need for the ships in the midst of war. Patriotism and the national crisis could not overcome the racism and hatred that existed in America. Northern newspapers pointed out the irony that America was practicing and upholding the racial theories of Hitler and the Nazis.

Warren a Republican from California who knew Palmer for years, stood up, put his arm around Palmer and told him, “Kyle, you and I will always be friends” and walked out.

This quotation is significant. Ibn Khalodun was one of the great intellectual Arab scholars, yet he looked upon Blacks as subhuman and fit for slavery. While Islam preaches the equality of all people, the Arabs had and many still have a raciest view of Blacks. The Arabs were the leaders among the slave traders and many an American Captain of a slave trader bought his slaves from Arab slave traders. Saudi Arabia was the last nation to outlaw legal slavery (1963) and it is still illegally practiced in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states of the Middle East. The attitude can be seen in much of the Arab Middle East even today. For examples, the Muslim Arabs in Northern Sudan refer to the Black non-Islamic Southerners using a derogatory term that means slave.

Booth was the younger son of a very prominent Northern family of actors. His older brother was considered the greatest American actor, and the rest of the family were abolitionists and vehement Union supporters. They found young John’s views reprehensible.