When U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson took the stage at Howard University in June of 1965, he had already signed the Civil Rights act into law, and he said he expected to sign the Voting Rights Act shortly.
The hard-fought legislation, crafted after widespread protests and demonstrations by Black Americans, was not enough, Johnson told Howard's historically Black university's graduating class. He laid out the vast economic gulf between Black and white Americans and his plans to address it.
Black poverty is not the same as white poverty, Johnson, a Democrat, said, it was also caused by "ancient brutality, past injustice and present prejudice."
Black Americans are still "buried under a blanket of history and circumstance. It is not a lasting solution to lift just one corner of that blanket. We must stand on all sides and we must raise the entire cover if we are to liberate our fellow citizens," he said.
Rather than improving, their situation was declining by many measures, Johnson
The hard-fought legislation, crafted after widespread protests and demonstrations by Black Americans, was not enough, Johnson told Howard's historically Black university's graduating class. He laid out the vast economic gulf between Black and white Americans and his plans to address it.
Black poverty is not the same as white poverty, Johnson, a Democrat, said, it was also caused by "ancient brutality, past injustice and present prejudice."
Black Americans are still "buried under a blanket of history and circumstance. It is not a lasting solution to lift just one corner of that blanket. We must stand on all sides and we must raise the entire cover if we are to liberate our fellow citizens," he said.
Rather than improving, their situation was declining by many measures, Johnson
12 days ago
