Speech #820201764

Jamaica has had a position of special privilege because it had access to the largest quota of all. that of Great Britain. So. while there is a sense in which the bill is hard on them. and I am sure it will seem to them unfair. yet the fact is that it does not discriminate against them. rather it merely takes away a special privilege they have had as compared to other peoples. The bill does establish equity and justice in our immigration laws as far as race is concerned. which we haye never had since the beginning. or at least not since the 1924 act. The bill removes race from the naturalization laws by providing the privilege of becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States "shall not be denied or abridged because of race." Eligibility would not be on the basis of race as at present. It would be on the basis of the individual human being. If he can qualify Intellectually. physically. morally and financially and obtains a quota number which the bill makes available to each country and colony and a separate quota of 100 for the AsiaPacific triangle to take care of the persons of mixed bloods in Asia. then he is eligible to be admitted as an immigrant and in due course to be naturalized regardless of his race. That is the way it ought to be. It makes clear that we believe in the principles of equality and democracy which we are always talking about.