This month, we will mark the 50th anniversary of the law that created the Civil Rights Division, the arm of the Justice Department tasked with protecting Americans from discrimination. To mark the occasion, Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers interviewed some of the attorneys [1] who worked at the division in its early years.

Gordon's article paints a picture of a Justice Department and a White House committed to protecting minority rights and of the division's "resolve to enforce the law in the face of political pressure." But the article also highlights the stark contrasts between the Civil Rights Division then and the Civil Rights Division now. The attorneys who were proud to work for the division in the 1950s and 60s, use words like "disaster" and "devastated" to describe the division under the Bush Administration.

With so far left to go before we live in a country free from discrimination, as the Civil Rights Division turns 50, it must get back to the front lines in the fight to ensure equal rights.