Speech #860179333

I hope that I shall have an opportunity to discuss the pending bill from all angles. and to emphasize the fact that while the section of the Nation which I represent may have a particularly keen interest in this matter. because of the acute problems legislation of this kind would create for us. there is no State in the Union which would not. to a greater or lesser degree. find such legislation burdensome. In Virginia and the other Southern States when charges of discrimination in employment are made the question of race is likely to be involved. In other areas. where many immigrants have settled. the problem may be largely one of nationality and in still other sections it may be primarily a matter of discrimination against religious groups. Now. if the objective in passing this bill were simply. as some of its sponsors would have us believe. to protect minority groups of all kinds against discrimination when they try to get or hold jobs or to advance in their chosen line of work. many of us who now oppose it might be willing to cooperate In seeking a reasonable bill. We know only too well. however. that while elimination of job discrimination is the immediate objective that is stressed. the thoughts of many of the more ardent advocates of FEPC are centered on a desire to abolish the whole pattern of segregation or separation of the races which exists not only in the South but by custom if not by law throughout the United States.