Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Quotes

Qutb was studying at Greeley College and with some Egyptian friends want to a movie theater. Greeley, even though not in the South, practiced racial discrimination in many of their public accommodations and the Civil Rights Law would not be passed for another 15 years or so. The ticked clerk at first would not sell tickets to the dark skinned Egyptians and when one protested, the owner was called. He ruled that as long as they were not American Blacks, they could enter. But Qutb refused.

Ames was not a native Southerner but as a General of the Union Army he had been the military commander of the wartime district of Arkansas and Mississippi where he became sufficiently popular to be elected Senator. However, once the segregationists returned to political power, Ames lost his bid for reelection amidst a massive, vicious campaign of intimidating Blacks from voting combined with local, rural corruption of the local balloting process. Ames also served as a general in the Spanish American War and was the last surviving Civil War general.

Bilbo was one of the worst racists who ever served in the Congress.

Smith, an extreme racist, was so rabid that MacGregor was supporting the Civil Rights Bill, he followed him off the House floor to make this statement. MacGregor jokingly told Smith that he was wrong. He had 17 Negroes in his District.

The first sentence is inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC. The last two sentences are rarely quoted.

Racial intermarriage was the greatest fear of those who opposed integration.

Negro volunteers were actually preferred under the theory that their ancestry made them more immune to malaria and other tropical diseases in Cuba.

Shortly after WWII, he became the largest builder in the United States. See {634380} for more depth on his view about segregated housing.

Despite the critical need of the war, racism was so extensive in the WWII military that Blacks were relegated to menial duty of cooking, truck driving and construction but were actually not allowed to fight at the beginning despite the fact that many had volunteered. Many whites—especially the southerners—were convinced that Negroes could not fight, that they lacked the courage and commitment. The need for troops in the Pacific theater was so great that in the invasion of Saipan that was so difficult, Black troops were committed to the fight and performed brilliantly. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Vandergrift was not only the first Marine 4 star general who was on active duty, but he personally was a recipient of the Medal of Honor. When he spoke, all marines and many others in the service listened. This was the break-though. Negroes in combat was no longer some kind of social experiment for most Marines except the most vitriolic rascists.

Note the propaganda use of the fear of sexual contact between Black men and white women. Ironically, America was at the time even more fearful of interracial union. The rape accusations had never been documented, but when many racial bigots saw colored offspring of mixed sexual union, the assumed that the white woman must have been raped. This official pamphlet was used in German schools starting in 1934. This propaganda was so effective that by the time the Nazis started the military aggression setting off WWII, the Germans already despised the French, Poles, Russians and other Europeans and were highly anti-Semitic. Americans and others in the world knew about the Catechism but did not believe that such nonsense would be believed by anyone. We have the same reaction today to the propaganda that the Palestinians and some Islamic nations use in their schools teaching hate for America, the Christian West and the Israeli and other Jews.

Warren a Republican from California who knew Palmer for years, stood up, put his arm around Palmer and told him, “Kyle, you and I will always be friends” and walked out.

Freedom Rides were interracial groups of Civil Rights advocates who boarded public interstate busses in Washington and rode South through some of the most segregated communities in the country. As the bus stopped at the segregated rest stops, the Black Freedom Riders would use the “white” waiting rooms, toilets, and other facilities which was against the local custom and law. Racist segregationists often brutalized and assaulted the Freedom riders whose leaders demanded Federal Protection. The Attorney General and others were trying to get the local politicians and law enforcement officials to protect the Freedom Riders, but often these were the worst of the racist segregationists. Kennedy thought if he could have a “cooling off period” for a few days, he could persuade the locals to protect the Freedom Riders from the mobs with the threat of sending Federal Marshalls or troops for the protection. So he asked Farmer and other Freedom Ride organizers to stop the Freedom Rides for a few days. This was Farmer’s famous response. The Freedom Rides continued and forced the Federal Government to respond on a timetable they did not prefer.

This was the first major civil rights speech. He had previously in his political career tread carefully in the civil rights arena. The Southerners had disproportionate control over the Congressional committee chairmanships and they could hold up his entire legislative agenda. JFK’s father was a right wing fascist who supported Hitler earlier and always advised against pushing civil rights.