Happy 43rd Anniversary, 1964 Civil Rights Act! Title VI Compliance Still MIA In Clarksville

By Turner McCullough Jr. | July 22, 2006 |

We are now in the 43rd anniversary of the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That’s quite a milestone for the nation. Sadly, it’s a dark anniversary for Clarksville and the state of Tennessee.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2nd of that year. (Pictured to the left.)History records show our own state legislature didn’t adopt it into the state’s law code until 1993. That’s twenty-nine years after it had became the law of the land! The law of the land, that is, except for the State of Tennessee.

That lag in time may help explain why our own city council has refused, even now, to adopt Title VI of that law, as the city’s official non-discrimination policy. There is a policy statement on display in city offices and the city’s website, to be sure. However, since it is required that the legislative controlling body of local government formally adopt Title VI mandates as official policy to receive federal financial assistance, these displays are meaningless without the council’s follow-thru. A mayoral proclamation is inapplicable. As TDOT’s Commissioner Nicely noted in August 2005, the city is not in compliance with the federal law. «Read the rest of this article»

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Doesn’t this just say it all!

By Bill Larson | July 22, 2006 |

I am a former Republican, I oppose George W. Bush Jr and his administration, I live in a town near a military base, and I am against the war. That tends to make some people believe that I am not a patriotic American citizen.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s easy to go along with the crowd, to blend in, and be one of the faceless masses, to take the cowards way out. It’s hard to stand up for your principles and do the right thing when it is unpopular, and by doing so making a target out of yourself. «Read the rest of this article»

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