John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The 2nd of July this year marked the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act in the United States of America. The act outlawed racial discrimination in schools, employment and accommodation in the United States, but it also inspired those fighting for racial equality in Australia.

The passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 was the culmination of a period of sweeping social change in the US. African Americans, many of whom had served their nation during the Second World War, returned to continuing racial discrimination at home. Civic organisations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference channelled this frustration into a series of protests that made the case for racial equality.

In 1950's Montgomery, bus boycotts followed Rosa Park's refusal to give her seat up for a white passenger. In 1960's Birmingham, school children and activists faced down police dogs and water cannons in the name of educational equality. The response was often brutal—church burnings, bombings and beatings became a frighteningly frequent presence on nightly news bulletins. In 1963, the newly elected Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, argued for 'segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever'. He stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama rather than allow two African American students to enrol. The violent response was unconscionable, but the case for change undeniable.

Wallace's belligerence convinced President Kennedy of the necessity of a civil rights act. That evening, Kennedy addressed the nation arguing:

I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this. This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

A week later, the Civil Rights Bill went to Congress, where it languished, caught up in endless procedure. It took the death of a president, the horror of four girls burnt alive while attending Sunday school, and the determination of a Southern Democrat called Lyndon Baines Johnson to see the bill passed. The work of activists, students and unionists in creating the conditions for the passage of the Civil Rights Act was crucial. The arc of history is rarely bent by the efforts of one individual, but Johnson's determination and deftness in the harrowing months that followed Kennedy's assassination can never be discounted. In the words of British journalist, author and broadcaster, Gary Younge, 'He was prepared to risk the future of his party, as the young that summer were prepared to risk their lives.'

On 2 July 1964, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act into law stating that day:

We believe that all men are created equal—yet many are denied equal treatment. We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty—yet millions are being deprived of those blessings, not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.

He went on:

The reasons are deeply embedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand without rancour or hatred how all this happens. But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the law I sign tonight forbids it.

The signing of the bill was not the end of discrimination. As Kennedy had reminded his nation a year earlier, 'law alone cannot make men see right'. But the passing of the Civil Rights Act set the United State of America on a new trajectory and helped it develop 'a more perfect union'.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act is the crowning achievement of those courageous protestors in places like Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery and of the politicians who placed human decency before self-interest. The actions and achievement of these protestors and politicians inspired those who were fighting for racial equality elsewhere.

In 1965, one year after the Civil Rights Act, a group of students from the University of Sydney travelled throughout rural New South Wales challenging the segregation of pools, parks and pubs in our own country. Of course, their bus tour was to become known as the Freedom Ride.

Almost a decade later, the party of reform led by then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam introduced the Racial Discrimination Act. To paraphrase Whitlam, the Racial Discrimination Act affirmed our opposition to all forms of racial discrimination, and ensured that the dark forces of bigotry and prejudice which prevailed so often in the past will never again be able to exercise influences far greater than their numbers in the community.

We should recognise and respect the Civil Rights Act and the commitment and the sacrifices that made it a reality 50 years ago. We should be wary of any attempts to turn our backs on this heritage and the greater social harmony that it led to. Instead, I would say, in the spirit of the act and in the spirit of its Australian equivalent: let us guard against bigotry, not encourage it, confident—absolutely confident—that racial diversity is one of Australia's greatest strengths.