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This bill will establish a simple, uniform standard which cannot be used, however ingenious the
effort, to flout our Constitution. It will provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the
United States Government, if the state officials refuse to register them. It will eliminate tedious,
unnecessary lawsuits which delay the right to vote. Finally, this legislation will insure that
properly registered individuals are not prohibited from voting. I will welcome the suggestions
from all the members of Congress--I have no doubt that I will get some--on ways and means to
strengthen this law and to make it effective.
But experience has plainly shown that this is the only path to carry out the command of the
Constitution. To those who seek to avoid action by their national government in their home
communities, who want to and who seek to maintain purely local control over elections, the
answer is simple: open your polling places to all your people. Allow men and women to register
and vote whatever the color of their skin. Extend the rights of citizenship to every citizen of this
land. There is no Constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain. There is
no moral issue. It is wrong--deadly wrong--to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to
vote in this country.
There is no issue of state's rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights. I
have not the slightest doubt what will be your answer. But the last time a President sent a civil
rights bill to the Congress it contained a provision to protect voting rights in Federal elections.
That civil rights bill was passed after eight long months of debate. And when that bill came to
my desk from the Congress for signature, the heart of the voting provision had been eliminated.
This time, on this issue, there must be no delay, or no hesitation, or no compromise with our
purpose. We cannot, we must not, refuse to protect the right of every American to vote in every
election that he may desire to participate in.
And we ought not, and we cannot, and we must not wait another eight months before we get a
bill. We have already waited 100 years and more and the time for waiting is gone. So I ask you
to join me in working long hours and nights and weekends, if necessary, to pass this bill. And I
don't make that request lightly, for, from the window where I sit, with the problems of our
country, I recognize that from outside this chamber is the outraged conscience of a nation, the
grave concern of many nations and the harsh judgment of history on our acts.
But even if we pass this bill the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far
larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of
American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must
be our cause too. Because it's not just Negroes, but really it's all of us, who must overcome the
crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.
And we shall overcome.
As a man whose roots go deeply into Southern soil, I know how agonizing racial feelings are. I
know how difficult it is to reshape the attitudes and the structure of our society. But a century has
passed--more than 100 years--since the Negro was freed. And he is not fully free tonight. It was