Civil Rights Rally Presented by I.U.E., AFL-CIO (1963)

[Music] e we're at the scene of a civil rights rally held in New York City by District 4 of the international Union of electrical radio and machine workers of America aflcio the oue with 400,000 members throughout the nation and 880,000 members in District 4 in New York and New Jersey has long held a position of leadership in the cause of civil rights this meeting before an overflow audience of more than 1,500 members is held to lay down an intensified Union and political action program to arrive at full equality for all minority groups in America all and now is the slogan of this civil rights rally Milton wck president of District 4 IE is Chairman for the rally Mr Wyck thank you thank you the labor movement in America has fought a long uphill fight to end exploitation misery and poverty to achieve better wages shorter hours and Humane working conditions we are somewhere up on the side of that Hill a long way from the bottom and the top is just dimly in view we have fought for the right to assemble the right to pick the right to organize the right to bargain collectively the right to share the wealth of the nation and the right to human dignity through all of our history IOU has fought for equal opportunity and with great success against discrimination for all of our members regardless of skin color or the language they spoke and described in our contracts is the Clause that all promotions transfers and layoffs will occur without discrimination because of race color creed on national origin through dedication to these tasks we have earned our credential and our right to participate the good conscience and a civil rights Revolution that is now sweeping across all states north south east and west this IE Freedom rally is not a starting point for us it is a fueling up station we're Gathering our energy to lead once again to serve all our members and all Americans in the struggle for human decency and the absolute right to equal opportunity and in doing so we want to finish the job now we we want all and now for jobs all and now for Education housing and all public accommodations this is a Time for Action and our action is geared to nothing less than the slogans that keyote this event all and now make inequality illegal Mr Wy Rock now introduces as honored guests the leaders and the children taking part in the Anglewood demonstrations Mr wrock stated that by walking from the Lincoln School to the Cleveland school and sitting in at Cleveland School these children are writing the history of our times it is already clear he stated that their efforts will be crowned with victory we hear now from Paul Sanchez a member of local three International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers now serving as a special representative on human rights for the New York City AFL cioo Mr Sanchez Mr chairman president G supervisor uh McLaren officers of the IE brothers and sisters I'm very happy to be here tonight I want to take this opportunity to thank the officers of this organization for giving me an opportunity to speak at this rally tonight I also would like to ask for for your kindly permission to make my remarks in Spanish thank you very much Mr Sanchez addressed the rally in Spanish stating that recent racial events in this country have prompted President Kennedy to place the struggle for equal rights in a position of highest priority it is the same struggle for equal rights and for Equal Employment which stands in first rank in all struggles for equality he said the pending legislation which President Kennedy has proposed to Congress includes all basic demands which are vitally necessary not only to our own racial group but to all minorities in the country particularly to the Negroes this is the most Humane and far-reaching legislation since the Emancipation proc Proclamation Mr Sanchez urged his listeners to demonstrate in their neighborhoods urged their children to finish their education and to support the president's program through their unions and through political action another civil rights leader follows on the deis at this meeting of members of the IOU he is Benjamin F McLaren Eastern representative for the Brotherhood of sleeping car Porters Mr McLaren [Applause] there is a mile Revolution taking place in America I say mild because there has been up to now so little Bloodshed in spite of the fire holes in spite of the dogs in spite of the bullets and police brutality while hundreds of thousands thousands of participants we take heart in the fact that our program of goodwi direct action nonviolence has paid dividends unlike the Jews who lost Millions seeking Freedom under the brutality of Hitler in a 100 years Negroes have been able to review the history of the past and we are taking advantage of the best of the struggles of the peoples throughout the world for freedom and [Applause] equality it has been said that we are pressing too hard and we are attempting to get there too quickly I can only say that the Negro has been the most patient citizen in America [Applause] untrained and trampled upon hungry with a sense of unwan has been the lot of the Negro but it has not been of his making we must therefore be given every opportunity that rightly belongs to us in order that we might live as Americans and not be the Vic victims of automation Revolution that now displaces large numbers of untrained Negroes I therefore repeat the right to work the right to an education the right to vote and the right to be treated as a human being free and untrampled are the simple rights we are [Applause] demanding we will settle for no less because we believe our objectives when attained will extend the shows of democracy and that democracy will include Negroes Puerto Ricans and All American children on Power and upward thank [Applause] you [Applause] Mr wrock the rally chairman next calls upon the leader of one of the largest locals in District 4 to introduce the international president Mr Charles folks president of local 431 whose Local Union has supported civil rights action in Englewood and throughout the nation Mr folks I'm not going to make a speech tonight president caring brother wak and fellow trade unionist I have known Jim ever since the early days some 25 years ago he has always been in the struggle for civil rights he has contributed to the great cause for human dignity he has been under constant attacks by the segregationists because of his forri stand against atrocities inflicted upon all minorities his fight for jobs and housing for negras and Puerto Ricans I need not say more I know that you have to get out here it's a little warm and you have to wait tomorrow I now present to you a wonderful American who by his service has won our esteem and Renown which he so richly deserves I give you Jim Carry our International [Applause] president brother folks I come before you at a great and decisive moment in history that Split Second in the annals of civilization when the spotlight focuses on all of us it focuses on us intently As Americans as trade unionists and a above all as human beings for men women and children are struggling at this very moment for freedom and dignity with a Zeal and dedication such as this nation has never seen in the past 100 years that Spotlight must not catch a Snapping and I'm confident at the bright light of History will find IE in the Forefront of any struggle where men are locked in Mortal Combat against Injustice for this is the historic mission of our labor movement and let me assure those bigots who had hoped that they could take on one small group of Freedom Fighters one at a time that if the fight is on the streets the IE will be [Applause] [Applause] there if the fight is in the councils of government the IE will be there if the fight is in the halls of Congress the IOU will be [Applause] there and if the fight is at The Ballot Box the IE will be there in [Applause] force this is our answer to those who had hope to frighten us out of civil rights legislation out of the Civil Rights struggle through a most vicious form of blackmail this is our answer to those who have threatened to punish labor for its civil rights stand by blocking our goal of Full Employment and economic IC security for all Americans the union I'm privileged ahe was established in accordance with the concept that all men are brothers and that all men that all men are born with the right of freedom human dignity and unrestricted [Applause] opportunity and these are not rights which are within the province of any government to Grant or to deny these are god-given rights for which every human being on Earth qualifies the moment he draws breath it is disgraceful yes and it is tragic that in 1963 in these United States men should be fighting and dying for those things which are rightfully [Applause] theirs it's a matter of Pride to me that great men and small in every corner of the nation have known that they could turn to IE when they needed help against Injustice I spoke earlier of History Spotlight Spotlight which focuses on each of us let us not forget at the same name Spotlight also illuminates for all the world to see the Negro baby who at Birth is doomed to seven years less of life and his wife white counterpart a negro child who was doomed of a life of humiliation and degradation who is doomed at Birth to inferior schooling inferior housing inferior job opportunities I say this is a living death that must no longer be tolerated in this [Applause] country from time to time we in the labor movement have been asked which of our civil rights goals have the highest priority and we have replied all of them for we can no more ask a member of a minority to choose between the right to vote the right to earn a living the right to a decent education and we can't ask the human being to choose between food and a we're dealing with a total fabric of manine furthermore just as we cannot separate civil rights goals from each other we cannot set them apart from the nation's economic goals or to what Avail is it if we win equal opportunity for employment when there are no jobs there would be no solution to the problem of unemployment from which Negroes youth Puerto Ricans and other minorities suffer more than twice as heavily as the great general population to take three percentage points of the negro's present unemployment rate which is a horrifying 12% and to add those three points to the whites on employment rate which is now around 3% all this would indeed equalize unemployment figures for Negroes and whites but that isn't the iou's idea of progress we must set our sights much higher let us then use every available means to batter Down the Walls that bar men from jobs because of their color but let let us at the same time and with equal dedication fight for a thriving economy which will provide those jobs let us fight unyieldingly for the right of negroes in the South to vote but let us make equally sure that those outside the South use their votes on June the 12th 152 Republicans and 56 Southern Democrats and one New York Democrat in the House of Representatives perpetrated one of the most unconscionable acts I would say of this decade they struck down the president's Bill to provide new funds for Area Redevelopment so that more jobs could have been created in those dark corners of the nation where people exist without work and without hope it made me sick to see the list of congressmen from New York New Jersey and Pennsylvania who had joined with the diocres I knew that many of these people had been elected with the votes of our members 18 Republicans and one Democrat from New York State six Republicans from New Jersey another not voting by the way there were four congressmen from New York state that didn't vote nine Republicans from Pennsylvania three states with severe unemployment and 38 of their so-called Representatives joined with a Dix rat Lynch party or fail to vote and I don't think there should be a single member of the Senate from New Jersey Pennsylvania or New York that votes against the legislation it should have the support of a single member of organized labor in the [Applause] future if your Congressman was a no vote on the Area Redevelopment bill could you ask them what their intentions are when it comes before them again could you ask them what they intend to do about the 12% unemployment among young people in our country you ask them what they're going to do on civil rights legislation if they follow the same pattern that they've established as a disciplinary action against this Administration for recommending civil rights legislation it describes what I characterized as a vicious form of blackmail and if you're dissatisfied with the answers you receive from these representatives in Congress your logical conclusion would be that we don't need men and women of that strip in our Congress supporting to represent us we don't need such men and women in Washington legislators who are stifling the growth of the nation who are selling America short and members of Congress should not be permitted to play politics with the future of our country I am therefore directing every IE local with its entire membership forget behind the president's full civil rights program and the economic proposal by taking the following steps one seek to have every I you remember learn from his congressman and Senators how they intend to vote on these issues two make every every effort to persuade those legislators who attit whose attitude is negative read and list all areas of the community in the united bipartisan Crusade fourth I urge each IE local to seek the defeat of those members of the House and Senate who refuse to heed the voices of millions of Americans well we're going to act simultaneously and with greater Vigor on both the Civil Rights front and the economic front and it is a time when the health of the nation will not allow us to settle for a half a loow in the year of 1963 every member of the United States Congress should be made aware that time has run out that labor will no longer tolerate Tre treachery especially from those it helped to elect oh sure let us reward our friends and punish our enemies first serving ample notice that an attack on the Negro is an attack on all of [Applause] us that an attack on an unemployed worker is an attack on all of us an attack on a young person or any other minority there an attack on all of us let us not for a moment lose sight of our true goal a nation which fulfills its Promises of unlimited opportun and untrammeled Liberty and no child cries of humiliation because of his color thank you very much this has been a rally held to intensify Union and political action programs in the area of civil rights presented by the international Union of electrical radio and machine workers of America AFL [Music] CIO