On Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland held a 50th anniversary celebration of the Civil Rights Act.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, everyone.
00:29My name is Kavon Small, I'm the Director of the Office for Civil Rights in the Justice
00:37Department's Office of Justice Programs.
00:39The Office for Civil Rights, in coordination and collaboration with the Department's Civil
00:43Rights Division, ensures recipients of federal financial assistance are not engaging in discrimination
00:48prohibited by law.
00:50On behalf of the Department, I have the privilege and the honor of welcoming you to today's
00:56program commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
01:02We welcome all of you in the audience, both here and online, including our colleagues
01:08from DOJ who work to uphold the values and mandates of this Act every day.
01:15The Civil Rights Act stands as a powerful declaration of our nation's commitment to
01:19equal justice under law.
01:21We are here today to celebrate its legacy, but also to recommit ourselves to the work
01:26that remains in fulfilling its promise.
01:30Many of us here are charged with enforcing the provisions of this landmark piece of
01:34legislation, and every one of us, in some way, embodies its principles.
01:40The Justice Department played a special role in securing passage of the Civil Rights Act,
01:44and like many of you, I feel a strong personal and professional connection to this history.
01:50Nicholas Katzenbach, who, as Deputy Attorney General, helped lead the Department's civil
01:54rights work.
01:56He chaired the commission that conceived of a federal office responsible for supporting
02:00equal justice and public safety in America's communities.
02:04That office went on to become the Office of Justice Programs, where I am so proud to work
02:09today.
02:11Many in this room can draw similar connections.
02:13In truth, we all can lay a special claim to the achievements and the responsibilities
02:18associated with the Civil Rights Act.
02:21We are honored to be joined today by distinguished speakers who will reflect on the meaning and
02:26the unfinished work of the law.
02:28We'll hear from Justice Department leadership and from a distinguished panel of experts
02:33working on the front lines of civil rights policy and enforcement.
02:38To begin today's observance, we'll hear opening remarks from five leaders at the Department
02:43of Justice.
02:44Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Acting Associate Attorney
02:50General Ben Mizer, and the head of the Community Relations Service, Justin Locke.
02:56Attorney General Garland and Deputy Attorney General Monaco have to leave us early for
03:00prior commitments, but we know they are leaving us in great hands with today's lineup of speakers.
03:06We will also see Attorney General Garland later this afternoon for the post-program
03:11reception.
03:14Throughout his leadership, the Attorney General has spoken of equal justice as a pillar of
03:18our mission at the Department of Justice and as central to our founding charter.
03:23His deep commitment is reflected in his support of the work of our Civil Rights Division and
03:28offices like mine across the OJ that strive to make real the promise of the Civil Rights
03:33Act.
03:34Please join me in welcoming the Attorney General of the United States, the Honorable Merrick
03:40B. Garland.
03:45Good afternoon.
03:57Thank you, Kavan, for that introduction and for your leadership of the Office for Civil
04:02Rights and the Office of Justice Programs.
04:05I'm honored to welcome everyone to this program marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil
04:10Rights Act of 1964.
04:13Sixty-one years ago, our country not only watched, but finally, truly saw the generations-long
04:22struggle by black Americans to claim the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution.
04:29In May of 1963, the country saw young, nonviolent protesters participating in a desegregation
04:37campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, face heinous violence at the direction of Bull Connor.
04:44The country saw public safety officers blast students and organizers with water from fire
04:50hoses so powerful that they could rip the bark off trees.
04:56The country saw children, who sought only to be treated as equal under the law, loaded
05:05into school buses and taken to jail.
05:09And as the country finally began to see that the treatment of its black citizens undermined
05:16its founding promise of equality under the law, the United States Justice Department
05:22saw it, too.
05:24So on a Saturday in May of 1963, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, for whom this building
05:32is named, called a meeting here at the Justice Department.
05:37By the end of the five-hour meeting covering everything from education to employment to
05:42public accommodations, the Attorney General asked Justice Department lawyers to draft
05:49a civil rights bill.
05:51Just two days later, by Monday night, they had one.
05:56And just over a year later, on July 2, 1964, after a hard-fought struggle in Congress and
06:04across the country, the bill was signed into law.
06:10It would be difficult to overstate the significance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
06:16It outlawed segregation in public accommodations.
06:20It banned discrimination based on race, religion, color, sex, and national origin in the workplace
06:26and at schools, and it banned certain barriers to voting and laid the groundwork for future
06:32voting rights legislation.
06:35The act transformed our country.
06:39It also gave the Justice Department some of its most important tools to protect American
06:44civil rights.
06:46The 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 presents an important moment to reflect
06:53on why we needed this law in 1964 and why we still need it today.
07:00Although there is so much for us to be proud of on this anniversary, we know there is so
07:06much more to do.
07:09Over half a century has passed, but many of the challenges that necessitated the Civil
07:14Rights Act of 1964 are still with us.
07:18Over the past three years, the Justice Department has exercised our authorities under the act
07:24to participate in more than 130 school desegregation cases across the country, to protect students
07:31from harassment based on race and sex in schools and communities ranging from Vermont and Kentucky
07:39to Wyoming and Kansas.
07:41To end practices in Lowndes County, Alabama that disproportionately expose the county's
07:47black residents to raw sewage.
07:50To protect voters in Arizona from unlawful voter registration requirement.
07:56To pursue justice for female corrections officers who faced sexual harassment in the workplace
08:03in Alabama.
08:04To pursue justice for black firefighter candidates who faced discriminatory hiring practices
08:10in Georgia.
08:12To hold accountable the owners and operators of a hotel in South Dakota that effectively
08:17banned Native Americans from the property.
08:23And to facilitate intercommunity dialogue and trainings under the auspices of the Department's
08:28Community Relations Service, which was created by the Civil Rights Act.
08:34These examples are just a fraction of the work that the Justice Department has been
08:39doing to enforce the protections of the Civil Rights Act.
08:43These examples are also just a fraction of the attempts to undermine civil rights protections
08:49that we are currently confronting.
08:52Today, it is not just individual civil rights that are under attack.
08:57We are also seeing pervasive attacks on the laws that guarantee those rights.
09:03And we are seeing a disturbing rise in attacks on the institutions and the people who are
09:09charged with enforcing those laws.
09:13We see this most clearly when it comes to voting rights.
09:18The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, the right from which all others
09:23flow.
09:25But around the country, there has been an increase in legislative measures that make
09:28it harder for eligible voters to vote, to have those votes counted, and to elect the
09:35representatives of their choice.
09:38Some have even suggested giving state legislatures the power to set aside the choice of the voters
09:44themselves.
09:48These efforts threaten the very foundation of our system of government.
09:53Attempts to undermine the right to vote have also expanded to include a disturbing rise
09:59in threats of violence against the citizens we rely on to fairly administer voting, state
10:06and county elected officials, career administrators, and even volunteer poll workers.
10:14These threats of violence against those who serve the public come alongside continued
10:19violence and threats of violence directed at people solely because of who they are,
10:25where they are from, what they look like, whom they love, how they worship, or what
10:31they believe.
10:34This is not the way our democracy is supposed to work.
10:40The promise of our democracy is that individuals will not have to fear that the color of their
10:48skin or where they work or who they are will make them targets of violence.
10:54The promise of our democracy is that public servants will be able to do their jobs without
11:00fearing for their safety.
11:03The promise of our democracy is that all people will be protected in the exercise of their
11:09civil rights and in the peaceful expression of their opinions, beliefs, and ideas.
11:16In a democracy, people vote, argue, and debate, often loudly, in order to achieve the policy
11:25outcomes they desire.
11:27But the promise of our democracy is that people will not employ violence to affect those outcomes.
11:37The promise of our democracy is that every one of our citizens will recognize the inherent
11:42dignity and equality of every other.
11:48And critically, the promise of our democracy is that all people will be protected and treated
11:54equally under the law.
11:58Working to fulfill that promise is part of the historical inheritance of this department.
12:05The Justice Department's first principal task upon its founding in the wake of the Civil
12:09War in 1870 was to protect the civil rights guaranteed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
12:18This meant confronting white supremacists who use extraordinary violence and threats
12:23of violence to prevent black Americans from exercising their voting rights.
12:29In the next few years, DOJ lawyers successfully prosecuted hundreds of members of the Ku Klux
12:36Klan.
12:38Those efforts helped to secure a brief period of meaningful black voting rights in parts
12:45of the former Confederacy.
12:48But the federal commitment to protecting black voting rights waned as Reconstruction drew
12:53to a close.
12:56Many people in this room will tell you that I speak often about the importance of the
13:02Justice Department's founding and about how it's charged to protect the civil rights
13:07of all Americans continues to guide us to this day.
13:13But the near century of inaction that followed the department's founding, in which the federal
13:19government failed to meaningfully protect civil rights, is also a history we must remember.
13:27It is a history we must never repeat.
13:32And that is why this program is so important.
13:36We have seen attacks on civil rights before.
13:39We have seen the courageous struggle of Americans who successfully moved this country closer
13:47to its promise.
13:49And we have seen the backlash against those efforts.
13:54Since its founding, the Justice Department has been at its best when it stands firmly
13:59on the side of protecting civil rights.
14:03That is a legacy we recommit ourselves to today.
14:11That legacy is an important reason why I returned to the Justice Department three and a half
14:15years ago, after serving for more than two decades as a judge.
14:23I loved being a judge.
14:25But my job as a judge was to decide only the cases that were randomly assigned to me, faithfully
14:32applying the law to the facts, and in that way to do my part to ensure the rule of law.
14:41But in 2020, along with the rest of the country and the world, I watched as Ahmaud Arbery,
14:51Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd were senselessly taken from their loved ones and their communities.
15:04I know that the feeling of despair I felt at that time reflected just a fraction of
15:10the grief and devastation felt, and still felt, by their families and by black Americans
15:16all across this country.
15:20But in the wake of those tragedies, I questioned whether what I was doing with the time given
15:31to me was enough.
15:35So when, given the chance, I came back to the Justice Department, I came back to this
15:42place with its history of stepping up for equal justice when it was needed the most.
15:50That is what the Justice Department is doing today.
15:54As we continue to enforce the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we are using
16:00every authority we have to protect civil rights.
16:04We are using our authorities to ensure constitutional policing by pursuing accountability on both
16:10an individual and systemic level.
16:13We are doing everything in our power to defend reproductive rights protected by federal law.
16:19We are enforcing the laws prohibiting lending discrimination, and we are securing relief
16:25for victims of that discrimination.
16:28We are using every authority we have to protect the right to vote.
16:34We are aggressively disrupting, investigating, and prosecuting the hate crimes that victimize
16:41individuals and terrorize entire communities.
16:45And we are bringing the perpetrators of those crimes to justice.
16:50We are using the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other authorities to protect the rights
16:55of LGBTQ Americans to live free from discrimination, harassment, and violence.
17:02And we are prosecuting threats of violence that target the public servants who administer
17:07our elections and who ensure the functioning of our democracy.
17:14We will not back down in our effort to defend civil rights and to defend our democracy.
17:34We recognize the challenges of this moment, but we have faced such challenges before.
17:41And with the help and often the push we needed from the civil rights community, we have risen
17:50to meet them.
17:53Ensuring the rule of law and making real the promise of equal justice under law are the
17:59principles upon which this department was founded.
18:02They are the principles the Civil Rights Act of 1964 affirmed 60 years ago, and they are
18:09the principles for which the United States Department of Justice stands today.
18:16During today's program, you will hear more about what the Justice Department is doing
18:19to continue the work of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
18:23I want to express my gratitude to the public servants across the department who advanced
18:28that work, particularly the Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Kristin
18:33Clark, the Community Relations Service, led by Component Head Justin Locke, and the Office
18:38of Justice Programs, led by Assistant Attorney General Amy Solomon.
18:44I also want to thank Shailen Cochran in my office for her outstanding work leading the
18:59committee that put together today's event, and for her effort every day helping to lead
19:04our work to protect civil rights.
19:07And I'm deeply grateful to the department's leadership team, Deputy Attorney General Lisa
19:11Monaco and Acting Associate Attorney General Ben Miser, both of whom you will hear from
19:17in just a moment.
19:19I am proud to work with all of you.
19:22And now I would like to ask the Deputy Attorney General to deliver her remarks.
19:26Thank you.
19:27DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL LISA MONACO Thank you so much, Mr. Attorney General.
19:41And what a wonderful reason to see this great hall filled, standing room only.
19:46I can think of no better reason for us to gather in this great hall.
19:50It is a pleasure and an honor to join all of you for this celebration.
19:57In June of 1963, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy appeared before the House Judiciary
20:04Committee to advocate for the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
20:09To open that hearing, he said, in this generation, we have seen an extraordinary change in America,
20:19a new surge of idealism in our life, a new and profound insistence on reality in our
20:26democratic order.
20:29Much has been done.
20:30But quite obviously, much more must be done, both because the American people are clearly
20:37demanding it and because, by any moral standard, it is right.
20:46A year later, after a long, hard fight, the Civil Rights Act became the law of the land.
20:53And today, it remains the bedrock of our work to promote equal justice under the law.
21:00The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a story of how the Department of Justice not only addressed
21:07the inequities of the present, but also how it anticipated those of the future.
21:15Guided by our nation's civil rights leaders and organizers, the Department dared to look
21:22ahead, imagining what equal treatment under the law meant in public life, from education
21:29to employment and beyond.
21:32As we celebrate 60 years of the Civil Rights Act, it's vital to acknowledge how far we've
21:39come, and even more important, though, to acknowledge that our work is unfinished.
21:46The extraordinary change in America that Attorney General Kennedy described in 1963 has only
21:53hastened.
21:55Our progress is evident.
21:57The passage of the Civil Rights Act was a watershed moment in our country's march toward
22:02a more perfect union, outlawing segregation in public accommodations and banning discrimination
22:08in public schools and in the workplace.
22:11But of course, as we know all too well, discrimination persists.
22:16Indeed, we have much more to do to stop hate, intolerance, and bias from being exacerbated
22:24and indeed accelerated, including by technology.
22:30The architects in 1964 could not have anticipated how misuses of technology, from cybercrime
22:38and artificial intelligence to social media algorithms and beyond, how they could pose
22:44a threat to the very rights and opportunities protected by the Civil Rights Act and successor
22:51legislation like the Voting Rights Act.
22:55We've seen it when folks search for a home, apply for a job, receive medical care, and
23:01in too many other instances.
23:04We've seen how it can crack open a window for foreign adversaries and bad actors to
23:09divide and mislead voters, threatening their most fundamental right, the right to vote.
23:18Sixty years later, because of the Civil Rights Act, bias fueled by automated systems is still
23:26bias.
23:27Hate accelerated by advanced algorithms is still hate.
23:34And discrimination enabled by artificial intelligence is still discrimination.
23:41More than half a century after its passage, the Civil Rights Act still offers the framework
23:47and legal tools to protect those whose civil rights are threatened by whatever comes next.
23:54And as a department, we understand and accept our responsibility to lead on evolving issues
24:01that impact basic rights.
24:03It's why our Civil Rights Division fights every single day against discrimination in
24:09all its forms, including when it's enabled by technology.
24:14That's why the department secured a landmark settlement against META for the discriminatory
24:18use of algorithms to serve up housing ads based on protected characteristics like race
24:24and sex.
24:26That's why the Civil Rights Division has led nine federal agencies to commit to core principles
24:31of fairness, equality, and justice as emerging technologies like AI become more common.
24:38And that's why Assistant Attorney General Clark is coordinating civil rights enforcement
24:43across the federal government to execute on the President's Executive Order on Artificial
24:48Intelligence.
24:50And as we confront the most transformational technology in our history, artificial intelligence,
24:57we are engaging civil rights advocates and leaders through the Justice AI Initiative,
25:02an effort launched earlier this year to draw on varied perspectives as we prepare for how
25:07AI will affect the Justice Department's mission today and in the future.
25:15On that June day back in 1963, Attorney General Kennedy ended his remarks by saying, this
25:23bill springs from the people's desire to correct a wrong that has been allowed to exist too
25:30long in our society.
25:33It comes from the basic sense of justice in the hearts of all Americans.
25:40The anniversary we mark today represents this department at its very best, seeing past wrongs
25:48and righting them.
25:50Today, we also recognize and reaffirm our responsibility to keep pushing that work forward
25:59and to meet the current moment.
26:02Thanks to all of you, colleagues, advocates, leaders, organizers, for your commitment to
26:08advance the promise of the Civil Rights Act and for lighting the path ahead.
26:14With that, I'd like to invite Acting Associate Attorney General Ben Miser to say a few words.
26:20Thank you, Deputy Attorney General Monaco.
26:42As we gather to celebrate and reflect on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we have to start
26:48by acknowledging the debt we owe to the countless individuals whose tireless efforts and unyielding
26:54bravery were critical in the fight to dismantle deeply ingrained systems of discrimination
27:01and segregation.
27:02We are here today because of their struggle, sacrifice, and courage.
27:08Sixty years ago, in his remarks on signing the act, President Johnson recognized that
27:13millions of Americans were being deprived, as he put it, of the blessings of liberty.
27:20The purpose of the landmark Civil Rights Act was, he said, to promote a more abiding commitment
27:26to freedom, a more constant pursuit of justice, and a deeper respect for human dignity.
27:34We have made great strides since that time, but we must never let up in our constant pursuit
27:40of justice.
27:41As the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General have highlighted, the act gave this
27:45Justice Department critical tools to protect American civil rights, and we have heard about
27:51some of what the department has accomplished by using those tools.
27:55I also want to take this moment to highlight some of the enforcement work we've done in
27:59partnership with others, as well as some of the work beyond enforcement that the act has
28:05empowered us to do.
28:08In so much of our important enforcement efforts under the Civil Rights Act, the Justice Department
28:13has worked alongside valued partners, including our colleagues at other federal agencies and
28:19outside civil rights organizations, and we are grateful to have so many of those partners
28:24in the room today.
28:26For instance, we have worked with the Department of Education to combat harassment and discrimination
28:31that limit students' opportunities based on race, national origin, sex, religion, and
28:37disability, and to address harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
28:42We have partnered with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, which was
28:48itself created by the Civil Rights Act.
28:51These and many more partnerships illustrate how the Justice Department is working with
28:55our esteemed partners to achieve broad enforcement of the act's protections.
29:01But enforcement tools were never going to be enough to make good on all of the promises
29:05of the act.
29:06So Congress also created the Community Relations Service, or CRS, to be America's peacemaker.
29:13CRS's conciliation specialists are trained to empower communities to mitigate tensions
29:20and develop frameworks for reconciliation.
29:23Signaling just how central that work was and is in advancing the goals of the act, President
29:29Johnson said in his signing remarks that his very first step in implementing the act
29:35was to nominate the first director of CRS.
29:39So today we also celebrate 60 years of CRS's service in proactively helping to resolve
29:45conflict in communities across the nation.
29:49For the last 60 years, CRS conciliators have been both on the front lines and behind the
30:03scenes providing mediation and facilitation services at most of our nation's major civil
30:09rights conflicts.
30:10In 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
30:16led a march on Selma in support of black suffrage, CRS was there mediating between
30:21demonstrators and law enforcement along the route.
30:25In 2014, when protests took place in Ferguson and across the country against inequalities
30:31in the criminal justice system, CRS was there.
30:35And in 2020, when Americans took to the streets in numbers not seen in decades to protest
30:40racial injustice, CRS was there working in communities across the country to help stakeholders.
30:47CRS has worked to reduce racial tensions in schools and helped foster supportive and inclusive
30:52learning environments across the country.
30:55And through its expanded authority under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes
30:59Prevention Act, CRS is helping communities prevent and respond to hate crimes and other
31:05incidents of bias.
31:07The alchemy of peacemaking is tricky and demanding, but it was and continues to be an indispensable
31:14component of securing the promises of the act, and CRS has always been up to the task
31:21and continues to be so today under Justin's tremendous leadership.
31:26As we spend the rest of the day reflecting on how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 shaped
31:30our country for the last 60 years, may we renew our shared commitment and partnership
31:36to fulfilling its mandate and our country's promise of equality for all.
31:41Thank you.
31:42So first, I would like to thank Attorney General Garland, Deputy Attorney General Modico, and
31:56Acting Associate Attorney General Miser for your powerful, thoughtful, and inspiring remarks.
32:02Before we return to our speakers, we have a short video documenting the history of the
32:08Civil Rights Act that we are pleased to share with you.
32:11So as you can see, the screen is going to come on down.
32:13It's going to take its time, but it's going to come down, and then the video will start.