Cite as: 540 U. S. 581 (2004)
Thomas, J., dissenting
as much." Radio and Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights, Public Papers of the Presidents, John F. Kennedy, No. 237, June 11, 1963, pp. 468-469 (1964). He gave no examples, and cited no occurrences, of discrimination against whites or indicated that such discrimination motivated him (even in part) to introduce the bill. Considered by some to be the impetus for the submission of a Civil Rights bill to Congress,4 the 1961 Civil Rights Commission Report focused its employment section solely on discrimination against racial minorities, noting, for instance, that the "twin problems" of unemployment and a lack of skilled workers "are magnified for minority groups that are subject to discrimination." 3 U. S. Commission on Civil Rights Report 1 (1961). It also discussed and analyzed the more severe unemployment statistics of black workers compared to white workers. See id., at 1-4; see also id., at 153 (summarizing findings of the Commission, listing examples only of discrimination against blacks). The report presented no evidence of any problems (or even any incidents) of discrimination against whites.
The congressional debates and hearings, although filled with statements decrying discrimination against racial minorities and setting forth the disadvantages those minorities suffered, contain no references that I could find to any problem of discrimination against whites. See, e. g., 110 Cong. Rec. 7204 (1964) (statement of Sen. Clark) ("I turn now to the background of racial discrimination in the job market, which is the basis for the need for this legislation. I suggest that economics is at the heart of racial bias. The Negro has been condemned to poverty because of lack of equal job opportunities. This poverty has kept the Negro out of the mainstream of American life"); id., at 7379 (statement of Sen. Kennedy) ("Title VII is directed toward what, in my judgment, American Negroes need most to increase their health
4 See R. Loevy, To End All Segregation: The Politics of the Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, p. 24 (1990).
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