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State University of Iowa Human Rights Committee first annual report and correspondence, 1963

""Civil Rights and Civil Liberties"" by Robert Moses, Field Secretary, S.N.C.C. Page 1

CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

by Robert Moses,
Field Secretary, S.N.C.C.

This short memo is to make explicit some connections between civil rights and civil liberties.

The burden of the Negro in America is not only to win freedom, but to force America to scrutinize long-standing ideas, institutions, and practices.

The struggle for jobs for Negroes forces questions about the ability of the economy to provide jobs for everyone within our present socio-economic structure; lack of legal counsel for Negroes brings into focus the general lack of legal counsel for all the poor; segregation in the churches is forcing the church to examine its institutions and practices.

The Negro seeks his own place within the existing institutional framework, bu to accommodate him society will have to modify its institutions --- and, in many cases, to make far-reaching, fundamental changes.

The function of the white American is not so much to prepare the Negro for entrance into the larger society --- to clean him up, straight-jacket and necktie him, make him presentable for the supper table --- but to prepare society for the change it must make to include Negroes.

National organizations must prepare to implement their declarations of high principle with specific programs. Resolutions affirming belief in equality of man is "business as usual" --- the American Way has been to affirm in principle and neglect in practice. Fortunately, there are signs of change. The National Council of Churches has, within the past two months, sent over 50 ministers into Mississippi to meet with Negro and white ministers of that state, as part of a newly-formed commission on race with an initial budget of $500,000. They have bent their efforts to the problems of raising bail money and are responsible for raising the $42,000 needed to secure the release of Hollis Watkins, Lawrence Guyot and 65 others from Parchman prison and the LeFlore county jail. For the first time, the American Bar Association has sent lawyers into the south under a mandate from its recent national meeting, over the increasingly ineffective protests of Southern lawyers, including Attorney Satterfield of Mississippi, its past president. 

Accordingly, for N.S.A., it will not be enough to issue declarations in praise of S.N.C.C. and other civil rights organizations. This congress must go on record in deed as well as in speech, and mandate its staff to raise funds to implement S.N.C.C.'s work and provide its own field personnel for work across the country preparing and educating American students for the changes to come.

The lack of a climate for civil liberties affects the entire striggle for civil rights. in the coming years it will be more and more crucial to discuss, debate, and act to secure First Amendment rights.

The lack of the right to picket and distribute leaflets, severaly restricts the civil rights movement in the deep South. The lack of freedom of association keeps liberal white Southerners on the defensive. The threat of being called a Communist is used to create a climate of suspicion among the civil rights groups working around the country.

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CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES by Robert Moses, Field Secretary, S.N.C.C. This short memo is to make explicit some connections between civil rights and civil liberties. The burden of the Negro in America is not only to win freedom, but to force America to scrutinize long-standing ideas, institutions, and practices. The struggle for jobs for Negroes forces questions about the ability of the economy to provide jobs for everyone within our present socio-economic structure; lack of legal counsel for Negroes brings into focus the general lack of legal counsel for all the poor; segregation in the churches is forcing the church to examine its institutions and practices. The Negro seeks his own place within the existing institutional framework, bu to accommodate him society will have to modify its institutions --- and, in many cases, to make far-reaching, fundamental changes. The function of the white American is not so much to prepare the Negro for entrance into the larger society --- to clean him up, straight-jacket and necktie him, make him presentable for the supper table --- but to prepare society for the change it must make to include Negroes. National organizations must prepare to implement their declarations of high principle with specific programs. Resolutions affirming belief in equality of man is "business as usual" --- the American Way has been to affirm in principle and neglect in practice. Fortunately, there are signs of change. The National Council of Churches has, within the past two months, sent over 50 ministers into Mississippi to meet with Negro and white ministers of that state, as part of a newly-formed commission on race with an initial budget of $500,000. They have bent their efforts to the problems of raising bail money and are responsible for raising the $42,000 needed to secure the release of Hollis Watkins, Lawrence Guyot and 65 others from Parchman prison and the LeFlore county jail. For the first time, the American Bar Association has sent lawyers into the south under a mandate from its recent national meeting, over the increasingly ineffective protests of Southern lawyers, including Attorney Satterfield of Mississippi, its past president. Accordingly, for N.S.A., it will not be enough to issue declarations in praise of S.N.C.C. and other civil rights organizations. This congress must go on record in deed as well as in speech, and mandate its staff to raise funds to implement S.N.C.C.'s work and provide its own field personnel for work across the country preparing and educating American students for the changes to come. The lack of a climate for civil liberties affects the entire striggle for civil rights. in the coming years it will be more and more crucial to discuss, debate, and act to secure First Amendment rights. The lack of the right to picket and distribute leaflets, severaly restricts the civil rights movement in the deep South. The lack of freedom of association keeps liberal white Southerners on the defensive. The threat of being called a Communist is used to create a climate of suspicion among the civil rights groups working around the country.