Speech #890139804

As the Senator from Massachusetts has said. we are past that period in the history of the United States when we judge a person by his last name or his place of birth or where his grandfather or grandmother came from. or how much money he has or what clubs he belongs to. I hope we shall start anew. to judge people on what their merit is. on what they can contribute to the country. on what they can contribute to their communities. on what they can contribute to their families. That is the whole philosophy of the immigration bill. and that that was the whole philosophy of the civil rights bills of 1963 and 1964 and the voting rights bill of I had hoped that the Senator from Florida would accept that point of view. I am very much surprised to hear such a philosophy raised so blatantly on the floor of the U.S. Senate. concerning the fact that we do not know where these Africans came from. that they cannot tell whether they came from the east coast or the west coast. and that therefore they should not be permitted to come here any more.