Submitted by the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago and Passed by AEU

Whereas the American Ethical Union at the Annual Assembly held in Brooklyn, New York, May 20, 1949 adopted a resolution endorsing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and

Whereas this resolution stated that the American Ethical Union do whatever is in its power to publicize the Declaration and to assure, whenever possible, that the Rights contained therein are observed in this country; and

Whereas this resolution also stated that where such Rights do not exist or are not enforced in the United States that public attention be drawn to such lack or violation, and that the American Ethical Union study and recommend remedial measures or proper enforcement of Rights where such Rights are not fully safeguarded;

Be it therefore resolved that the American Ethical Union at this Assembly endorse a specific program of civil rights and lend its full support to the enactment of effective legislation to provide a Fair Employment Practice Commission Act, federal protection against lynching, elimination of Jim Crow practices in interstate commerce and in the armed services, establishment of equal rights and opportunities in the District of Columbia, elimination of racial distinctions in immigration and naturalization, establishment of a permanent Presidential Commission on Civil Rights, a Congressional Committee on Civil Rights, and a Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice, elimination of discrimination in education and health, elimination of the poll tax, and the realization of such other civil rights as are necessary to bring about more effective democracy in our country; and

Be it further resolved that the American Ethical Union considers the fulfillment of civil rights for all of our people a moral and ethical obligation and a test of the meaning of democracy in the eyes of the world.