[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 59 (Friday, April 11, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S5325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CELEBRATING THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1968

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam President, I rise today to join with my fellow 
Marylanders and all Americans in celebrating the 35th anniversary of 
the Civil Rights Act of 1968. On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon 
Johnson signed this historic act, one of several landmark pieces of 
legislation that helped ensure equal treatment for people of all races, 
and helped bring to life the original founding principles of our 
Nation.
  In 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which 
made segregation in public facilities and discrimination in employment 
illegal. This remarkable piece of legislation was followed up 4 years 
later with the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which contained the Fair 
Housing Act that prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and 
financing of housing.
  This law helps to ensure that people of all races have opportunities 
to live where they choose. The housing pattern in the early 1960s was 
one of almost complete segregation. In 1967, 80 percent of all 
nonwhites living in metropolitan areas lived in the central city, while 
up to one-third of all new factories and stores were locating outside 
of the central city areas. Equal access to housing was seen not only as 
a basic right by legislators and advocates, but it was also seen as key 
to increased employment opportunities. In order for people of all 
racial groups to advance economically, they needed access to jobs, and 
housing near those jobs was being denied to African Americans and 
others in this country.
  Unfortunately, 35 years after its passage, the Fair Housing Act is 
still needed because discrimination in housing continues. Too many 
minorities, disabled people, and families are unable to live where they 
choose because of discrimination. Each year, thousands of people turn 
to the Department for Housing and Urban Development and agencies around 
the country because they have been denied decent and safe housing based 
purely on their race, ethnicity, disability or familial status. As we 
celebrate the anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, an act that promised 
that we as a nation would work to ensure that all people had equal 
access to areas of opportunity, we must do more to act on that promise 
and make it a reality. The Fair Housing Act must be better enforced, so 
that people around the country understand that we take the act and its 
protections seriously.
  I also want to remind people that, even after achieving the American 
dream of homeownership, we must remain vigilant. Each year, many 
homeowners, particularly minority homeowners, are stripped of the 
wealth and equity they have accumulated in their homes over many years 
by the unscrupulous practices of predatory lending. The Federal 
Government took a small step to guard against this abuse when it passed 
the Home Owners and Equity Protection Act in 1994. However, we need to 
do more, and I intend to press legislation to move this part of the 
civil rights agenda forward.
  While we continue to make progress to ensure that people of all races 
are treated equally, we should also honor those great civil rights 
leaders who gave us their vision of equality. President Johnson signed 
the Civil Rights Act of 1968 just a week after Martin Luther King, Jr., 
was assassinated at a hotel in Memphis, TN, affirming that despite this 
Nation's great loss, the legacy of Dr. King would live on. We must 
continue to recognize and honor the remarkable achievements and the 
ultimate sacrifice of Dr. King.
  In order to remember and preserve Dr. King's legacy, the Martin 
Luther King, Jr., Memorial Project Foundation is in the process of 
planning and building a memorial on The Mall to Dr. King. The process 
has been ongoing for several years, and I have recently offered 
legislation that would extend the legislative authority for the 
memorial by an additional 3 years. This legislation would give the 
foundation the extra time that it needs to complete this important 
project. Visitors will be able to come to the memorial from every part 
of this country, and indeed the world, to be inspired anew by Dr. 
King's words and deeds and the extraordinary story of his life.
  The civil rights movement inspired by Dr. King and others changed the 
lives of all Americans for the better. However, we can do more to live 
up to the expectations that he and others set for our Nation. In 
celebrating the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, we are 
reminded of how far we have come, and how far we have yet to go.

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