610
Thomas, J., dissenting
and happiness. . . . [T]o be deprived of the chance to make a decent living and of the income needed to bring up children is a family tragedy"); id., at 6547 (statement of Sen. Humphrey) ("I would like to turn now to the problem of racial discrimination in employment. At the present time Negroes and members of other minority groups do not have an equal chance to be hired, to be promoted, and to be given the most desirable assignments"); ibid. (citing disfavorable unemployment rates of nonwhites as compared to whites); ibid. ("Discrimination in employment is not confined to any region—it is widespread in every part of the country. It is harmful to Negroes and to members of other minority groups"); id., at 6548 ("The crux of the problem is to open employment opportunities for Negroes in occupations which have been traditionally closed to them"); id., at 6562 (statement of Sen. Kuchel) ("If a Negro or a Puerto Rican or an Indian or a Japanese-American or an American of Mexican descent cannot secure a job and the opportunity to advance on that job commensurate with his skill, then his right to be served in places of public accommodation is a meaningless one . . . . And if a member of a so-called minority group believes that no matter how hard he studies, he will be confronted with a life of unskilled and menial labor, then a loss has occurred, not only for a human being, but also for our Nation"); id., at 6748 (statement of Sen. Moss) ("All of us, that is except the person who is discriminated against on the basis of race, color, or national origin . . . . He frequently knows that he is not going to school to prepare for a job. . . . He frequently knows that no matter how hard he works, how diligently he turns up day after day, how much overtime he puts in, that he will never get to be the boss of a single work crew or the foreman of a single division. And that is what the fair employment practices title is about—not the right to displace a white man or be given preference over him—but simply the right to be in the running"). I find no evidence that even a single legislator appeared concerned about
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