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TESTIMONIAL BANQUET FOR MR. TOMLINSON D. TODD
Monday, February 28, 1949 at 6:30 P.M.
Barker Hall, Y.W.C.A., 17th and K Streets, N.W.
Washington, D.C.

ADDRESS BY MR. TOMLINSON D. TODD
Director of the "Americans All" Radio Program
and
President of the Institute on Race Relations

My Friends and Fellow Citizens:

I speak sincerely when I say I have not words to express my appreciation of this honor you have bestowed on me this evening. That appreciation can be shown no better than through a reaffirmation of loyalty to the great brotherhood program carried on by the Institute on Race Relations and the "Americans All" Radio Program.

Now that space has been conquered and man may breakfast in America, lunch in Africa, fine in Asia, and go to bed in Europe, the theory of complete integration of every man into a "One-World" Society is more necessary than ever before. I feel confident that such a program as "Americans All" has done much to break down segregation and discrimination, and to make all nations conscious one of the other -- of their customs, their needs, and their traditions.

The ideals, the identity of purposes of all peoples must be equally protected. Every man should know his fellowman; every nation his neighbor, and all should seek a common way of life based upon the best that has resulted from ages of social determination.

The good neighbor policy has become more than a catch phrase... all nations are neighbors. Here in the United States of America - the stronghold of Democracy, there is now more than ever a need for implementing Civil Rights, which, after all, serve only as an assurance of Constitutional Rights.

There rights are recognized though not always practiced. I recall the experience of a cultured woman of color who bought a fur coat costing almost a thousand dollars in a department store here in our Nation's Capital only to find later that she did not have the privilege of buying a cup of team in the same store after making the purchases. No explanation, no excuse could ever make amends for such discourtesy.

If Civil Rights or Constitutional Rights, or even Human Rights are to achieve full fruition, they will do so through education and association. Education must include the minorities as well as the majority group. It is increasingly necessary to seek understanding of the problems of varied ethnic groups; of one race to know the problems and experiences of another race; of one man of color to learn of handicaps of a man of another color.

Not only must there be education and understanding, but there must be a constant exchange of ideas as well as the dissemination of knowledge concerning racial problems - as well as progress made in correcting them.

Since the initial stages of the organization, these factors have been of prime importance in developing the policies of the Institute on Race Relations and its subsidiary, the "Americans All" radio program.