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[[image - Urban League logo]] Equal Opportunity Day Dinner IRVING S. SHAPIRO Chairman, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company It is a special honor to be here this evening, even if one applies a heavy discount factor to the generous words that you have just heard. I accept your award with thanks, and I want to accept it in two different capacities, one present, one past. In my current role, it is worth noting that we are hearing some say that revitalization of the economy is the Number One issue facing Americans today. Others worry that a preoccupation with economic issues will mean a loss of interest in crucial social issues, particularly equal opportunity goals. The point I would make is a simple one. There is no need to choose between revitalizing our economy and promoting equal opportunity; in fact, opportunity for all will be available only if we do revitalize our economy, and our society will move in the right direction only if we do provide equal opportunity. The Urban League has been successful over the years, in my opinion, because is has consistently understood that progress toward social equity is most likely when we have the economic efficiency which allows poorer people to gain more, without forcing other people to accept less. The flip side of that, equally important, is that economic vitality is most likely when we have social equity which lets men and women of all races make the maximum use of their talents. Having spoken as a businessman, let me revert now to a different role and tell you about the experience of a young lawyer nearly 40 years ago, when the civil rights movement was not much more than a gleam in the eyes of a small group of courageous people. That young lawyer on the staff of the Department of Justice undertook to sustain the conviction of a Georgia sheriff for violation of Section 2 of the Civil Rigvhts Act of 1886, which says that citizens have a right not to be denied life without due process of law. The facts in the case were simple. The local sheriff caused a young man to be arrested and brought to the well of the courthouse in Newton, Georgia. He and his colleagues beat the man to death and nothing happened. Finally a Federal civil rights prosecution began. Ultimately, the jury convicted, but the defense appealed with the argument that the sheriff had not acted under color of state law, as the statute required, because state law prohibited what the sheriff had done. In the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the conviction was sustained by a split vote. The disenting judge argued vigorously that a lynching by a sheriff could not be done under color of state law. To everyone's consternation, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the issue raised by the dissenting judge. The young lawyer at the Department of Justice drew the assignment of briefing the case for the Supreme Court, and, in due course, justice prevailed. The Supreme Court concluded that a sheriff acts under color of state law when he takes custody of a prisoner even if his conduct violates state law. This landmark civil rights case--Screws vs. United States--became an early harbinger of other great Supreme Court civil rights decisions to come. The young lawyer who was inexperienced and apprehensive about the meaning of justice, but who knew that a lynching could not go unavenged, became the businessman who still cares deeply about individual rights and equal treatment, and who tonight accepts your award and salutes, once again, Vernon Jordan and the Urban League. Let us continue to do it together. [[image]] [[caption]] Vernon Jordan, Russell Gideon [[/caption]] [[image]] [[caption]] Robert Haith, Vernon Jordan [[/caption]] [[image]] [[caption]Vernon Jordan, J.D. Lewis [[/caption] 342
