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Title
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EWP 1 Williams 001
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Place
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Virginia
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Identifier
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1000514
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Is Version Of
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1000514_EWP_Williams_001.jpg
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Is Part Of
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Uncategorized
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Date Created
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2024-01-07
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Format
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Jpeg Image
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Number
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686be68dfe95794b4d4bfc8d9f4dc2d13a4d075ee24082dd7d0f120aa3f74c46
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Source
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/Volumes/T7 Shield/EWP/Elements/EWP_Files/Access Files/Upload temp/1000514_EWP_Williams_001.jpg
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Publisher
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Digitized by Edwin Washington Project
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Rights
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Loudoun County Public Schools
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Language
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English
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Replaces
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/Volumes/T7 Shield/EWP/Elements/EWP_Files/source/Ingest One/1 Civil Rights/integration_folder/Constitutional_Convention/EWP_Williams_001.jpg
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extracted text
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(Not printed at Government expense)
United States
of America
Congressional Record
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 84”’ CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
Where Is the “Reign of Terror?”
SPEECH
OF
HON. JOHN BELL WILLIAMS
OF MISSISSIPPI
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, March 27,1956
Mr. WILLIAMS of Mississippi. Mr.
Speaker, since the Black Monday deci-
sions which sought to amend the Con-
stitution by judicial fiat, the people of
America have been subjected to the most
vicious brainwashing campaign in the
history of the world.
Newspapers, magazines, radio, and
television, as well as Government
agencies, have been continuously engaged
in an unceasing barrage of malicious and
misleading propaganda, assaulting the
integrity, character, customs, and mores
of the people of the Southern States.
Those who are farthest removed from
the segregation problem are the first to
come forward with solutions to it, none
of which suggest that those who must
live with the problem should be con-
sulted. None have sampled the opinion
of the southern Negroes, who desire—as
do the southern whites—to be left alone
to work out their own destinies.
Opposition to integration by white and
Negro citizens can be measured in direct
ratio to the proportion of Negroes in the
population. There is little, if any, sup-
port for segregation, for instance, in
Vermont or Minnesota or Idaho, where
the ratio of Negroes to whites in the
population is merely a fraction of 1 per-
cent. In Mississippi, by contrast, where
the Negro population is almost equal to
the white population, almost unanimous
support for continued segregation pre-
vails among members of both races.
The agitation for racial integration did
not originate with southern Negroes, the
alleged “victims” of the system, nor have
southern Negroes generally supported
such agitation. Southern Negroes know
that their race is being exploited by the
radical and pink-fringed NAACP, its
sister organizations and captive politi-
cians, and they resent as deeply as their
382798--58063
white neighbors these efforts to destroy
the identity of their race.
In the unceasing propaganda cam-
paign being leveled against the South-
ern States, facts are being deliberately
concealed and distorted. This propa-
ganda would have Americans believe that
the only diffierence between the races is
in skin pigment, and that segregation is
the root of all evil in human relations.
They would have Americans believe that
society should recognize no differences
among people, no matter how pro-
nounced those differences may be in
actual fact, or how obvious such differ-
ences may be. In this, they are doing
a distinct disservice to the American
people.
Mr. Speaker, these bleeding-heart pro-
fessional troublemakers weep buckets of
tears over what they call second-class
citizenship.
I am not going to deny what is a fact:
That we do have a second-class citizen-
ship, in the North as well as in the South.
However, we might be equally as honest
with ourselves and admit another very
obvicus truth: There will always be a
second-class citizenship so long as there
are second-class citizens. By the same
token, there will be second-class citizens
so long as there are citizens who refuse
or neglect to discharge the duties, re-
sponsibilities, and obligations that must
be given in return for the enjoyment of
first-class citizenship.
First-class citizenship is not a com-
modity that can be handed gratuitously
to a person or a people like a can of sar-
dines handed across a counter. It is a
status that will be conferred automati-
cally when it has been earned, and not
before.
The time has come for the light of
truth to penetrate the iron curtain that
has been thrown around the facts re-
garding racial differences and distinc-
tions.
The big lie campaign touched off by
the sociological fiat of the Supreme Court
has reached such magnitude that the
time has come to set the record straight.
Let us look at the facts for a moment.
Was Lincoln right when, in comment-
ing on the white and Negro races in his
debate with Douglas, he said:
There is a physical difference between the
two, which, in my judgment, will. forever
forbid their living together upon the foot-
ing of perfect equality.
Was Lincoln right when he spoke to
a Negro gathering in Washington, on
August 14, 1862, when he told them:
It is better for us both, therefore, to be
separated.
Has the Negro race reached the same,
or a comparable level of mental develop-
ment to that of the white race since the
birth of his civilization some 93 years
ago?
Do Negroes observe the same moral
standards as whites, or does a double
standard of morals exist as between
whites and Negroes?
What is the real effect of segregation
with respect to the Negro crime rate?
Does the Negro commit more crimes in
integrated or segregated States?
Is the Negro better treated in the in-
tegrated States, or does he actually fare
better in the segregated States, current
Government and press propaganda to
the contrary?
Where is the real reign of terror
against Negro citizens, if such prevails?
Is it in Mississippi and the South, as the
bleeding-heart liberals contend, or is it in
the integrated States?
The facts and figures which I shall
use later in this dissertation are au-
thentic. They are compiled from official
records of the United States Government
and agencies of the several States.
These figures have not been altered or
changed in any way, but they speak more
eloquently than all the words in Web-
ster’s Dictionary of the real differences
that exist between the races. These will
be facts and figures that will not be found
in the propaganda being disseminated
by South hating agitators, and undoubt-
edly will not be quoted by the left-wing
press, though I challenge them to dis-
pute their authenticity or try to explain
away their significance.
First, it might be well to take a look
at State prison statistics by race, com-
iled from official records of the United
States Department of Justice: