Joseph P. Bradley Quotes

When a man has emerged from slavery, and by the aid of beneficent legislation has shaken off the inseparable concomitants of the state, there must be some stage in the progress of the elevation when he takes the rank of a mere citizen, and ceases to be the special favorite of the law.

Secure to all … citizens a perfect equality of rights

What is the American dream? The American dream is one big tent. One big tent. And on that big tent you have four basic promises: equal protection under the law, equal opportunity, equal access, and fair share.

Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators.

[Speaking of civil rights;] We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the Scriptures and as plain as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.

... we should be miserable but for the consciousness that we have done all in our power to help forward every measure for the freedom and equality of the races and the sexes.

Our goal was not freedom. Freedom was the necessary prerequisite to get to equality.

The purpose that brought the fourteenth amendment into being was equality before the law, and equality, not separation, was written into the law.

Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.

The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.

The bells will ring and the marriages will begin. And it's a great day in our state for equal protection under the law for all people.

All I demand for the black man is, that the white people shall take their heels off his neck, and let him have a chance to rise by his own efforts.

Rejecting the fundamental provision of the Civil Rights Act is a rejection of the foundational promise of America that all men and women should be treated equally, a promise for which many Americans have lost their lives.

Many civil rights came about, not when they were passed into law, but because the federal government did what it should and saw them enforced.

I have been a long and strong supporter of civil rights in my whole career. I led the fight to get the voting rights act re-enacted. I have been a strong supporter of affirmative action. I believe in it strongly.

It was a privilege to serve as the assistant attorney general for civil rights, a role that allowed me to enforce the Civil Rights Act and help make its promise a reality.

I want a fair housing bill. We’ve got to end this Goddamn discrimination against Negroes. Until people, whether they’re purple, brown, black, yellow, red, green, or whatever – live together, they’ll never know they have the same hopes for their children, the same fears, troubles, woes, ambitions.

That there shall be no discrimination in civil rights or immunities ... on account of race ... but the inhabitants of every race ... shall have the same right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, and shall be subject to like punishment ... and no other

The contest is becoming—has become—one, not alone of freedom for the black, but freedom for the white.

The Fifteenth Amendment nullifies sophisticated as well as simple-minded modes of discrimination.

Achieving legal rights is only a first step in achieving equality.

There is no “equality before the law” possible but between men economically free.

Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience.

I rejoice that I have lived to see this day, when the colored people of this favored land, by law, have equal privileges with the most favored. And I have faith to believe that ere long equal justice will be granted to the poor Indians and the Chinese.

The rights, privileges and responsibilities of full American citizenship. This is all that the Negro asks. He will not willingly accept less. As long as America offers less, she will be that much less a democracy. The whole way is the American way