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Burlington Commission on Human Rights, 1964-1965

Iowa Law Review, "State Civil Rights Statute: Some Proposals" Page 1079

1964]     STATE CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES     1079

to be treated.... One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice; they are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.54

As a result, the opportunity for all Americans to obtain without discrimination suitable employment, decent housing, and access to public accommodations must be assured. A person's race, religion, or national background must not be a consideration. Only int his way can we be faithful to our national heritage and principles.
   The deleterious consequences of society's failure to assure all its citizens this equality of opportunity are many. For the minority group member who is discriminated against, it means an arbitrary and unjust refusal to allow him to fully develop his potentialities and share in the fruits of our society. Such people find that even the basic necessities of life are unusually difficult if not impossible to obtain. In addition, when the members of a particular minority group, such as Negroes, are denied equal access to the resources of our community, they are stamped with a badge of caste, of unwarranted inferiority, which they have every right to resent. Such treatment cannot help but cause ill feeling among the "outcasts," dampen their motivation and ambition, and create an attitude of discouragement. Such treatment also subjects members of the excluded group to frequent humiliation, inconvenience, degradation, and added expense not suffered by other persons in our society.
   The community as a whole also suffers from the absence of equal opportunity for all. It loses the contributions that might have been made by minority groups excluded from the main channels of its activities, and also the full potential of a market which would otherwise be in a better position to purchase available goods and services. The Iowa Governor's Commission on Civil Rights recognized this in its conclusion that "the economic depression of the State's Negro population is detrimental to the State as a whole."55 And the Governor himself recently noted that "discrimination retards the growth of Iowa's economy. It leads to a dismal and distressing squandering of human resources. It does not allow  many Iowans to fulfill their economic potential, thus making all Iowa the poorer for it."56
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54 Id. at p. 6, cols. 6-7.
55 Report for the Iowa Governor's Commission on Civil Rights and the Need for Fair Employment Legislation 2, Jan. 8, 1963.
56 Iowa City Press-Citizen, July 13, 1963, p. 1, col. 8. Note that university economists were asked recently: "Does discrimination against minorities constitute a serious obstacle to the economic efficiency?" Sixty-seven per cent answered yes, while thirty-three per cent answered no. Slow Growth is No. 1 Problem, Business Week, Dec. 7, 1963, p. 39.

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1964] STATE CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES 1079 to be treated.... One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice; they are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.54 As a result, the opportunity for all Americans to obtain without discrimination suitable employment, decent housing, and access to public accommodations must be assured. A person's race, religion, or national background must not be a consideration. Only int his way can we be faithful to our national heritage and principles. The deleterious consequences of society's failure to assure all its citizens this equality of opportunity are many. For the minority group member who is discriminated against, it means an arbitrary and unjust refusal to allow him to fully develop his potentialities and share in the fruits of our society. Such people find that even the basic necessities of life are unusually difficult if not impossible to obtain. In addition, when the members of a particular minority group, such as Negroes, are denied equal access to the resources of our community, they are stamped with a badge of caste, of unwarranted inferiority, which they have every right to resent. Such treatment cannot help but cause ill feeling among the "outcasts," dampen their motivation and ambition, and create an attitude of discouragement. Such treatment also subjects members of the excluded group to frequent humiliation, inconvenience, degradation, and added expense not suffered by other persons in our society. The community as a whole also suffers from the absence of equal opportunity for all. It loses the contributions that might have been made by minority groups excluded from the main channels of its activities, and also the full potential of a market which would otherwise be in a better position to purchase available goods and services. The Iowa Governor's Commission on Civil Rights recognized this in its conclusion that "the economic depression of the State's Negro population is detrimental to the State as a whole."55 And the Governor himself recently noted that "discrimination retards the growth of Iowa's economy. It leads to a dismal and distressing squandering of human resources. It does not allow many Iowans to fulfill their economic potential, thus making all Iowa the poorer for it."56 _________________________ 54 Id. at p. 6, cols. 6-7. 55 Report for the Iowa Governor's Commission on Civil Rights and the Need for Fair Employment Legislation 2, Jan. 8, 1963. 56 Iowa City Press-Citizen, July 13, 1963, p. 1, col. 8. Note that university economists were asked recently: "Does discrimination against minorities constitute a serious obstacle to the economic efficiency?" Sixty-seven per cent answered yes, while thirty-three per cent answered no. Slow Growth is No. 1 Problem, Business Week, Dec. 7, 1963, p. 39.