The 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision commenced an era that opened up educational opportunities for millions of minorities and women through desegregation and affirmative action. Throughout his career in Congress, he has been in the vanguard of protecting equal opportunity and has had the privilege of working for the passage of a broad range of civil rights legislation. Our nation's stride toward full equality for all, however, has come under constant attack from the right wing of the Republican party. Soon after taking control of the House in 1994, Republicans attempted to pass legislation that would have ended affirmative action by the federal government and effectively halted more than 30 years of bipartisan progress and cooperation concerning civil rights.
Mr. Conyers led the fight in the Judiciary Committee that defeated the Republican attack on federal affirmative action programs. That legislative victory, however, did not end attacks on equal opportunity programs. Most recently, attacks on affirmative action have focused legal challenges to higher education and the programs at the University of Michigan. This latest assault was a call to action to defend affirmative action, not just for the state, but the entire nation. As a legislator who is charged with the duty to protect the access to public institutions and programs, especially public schools and institutions of higher education, he could not sit idle and watch the Supreme Court proceedings. Mr. Conyers was joined by more than 100 colleagues in filing an amicus brief in support of the University of Michigan. This response was all the more heartening, given the fact that attempts to engage the majority - letters to Solicitor General Ted Olsen and Speaker Hastert - went without any response whatsoever.
While affirmative action in education was preserved by a 5-4 victory in the University of Michigan Law School case, we must remain diligent in our efforts to protect equal opportunity. The Bush administration is on a drive to appoint a crop conservative judges who would read the Constitution in a manner that is out of touch with the social reality of our nation. Although the Trent Lott debacle put them on the defensive, the true face of the Republican party was shown in the debate over affirmative action in education. Despite reports that moderates were tying to soften the usual hardline, anti-affirmative action crusaders like Solicitor General Ted Olson continued setting the agenda.
Since the advent of Republican control of the White House and Congress, they have made it clear that they are not serious about any commitment to equal opportunity -- in fact, it is safe to say they have no commitment to equal opportunity. They have taken every opportunity to roll back protections for women and minorities, to create a society in which women and minorities are once again relegated to second-class status.
Despite our increasingly diverse society, data shows that Americans of different racial and ethnic groups live largely separate lives. Consequently, the most important social issue we face in this new century is how a highly diverse social people -- a people that will have no majority race by the middle of the century -- can coexist and prosper together. As a party, Democrats embody the ideals of our new century. We literally look like the new America and see diversity as our strength, not weakness. To protect out commitment to equal opportunity, we must rededicate ourselves to the task of taking back our government. Every community must meet the challenge to take up the fight for affirmative action and equal opportunity- the rich diversity of America depends on it.