A Meeting with the President | Genius: MLK/X | National Geographic
Look, either we've been summoned here so he can pressure us to accept watered down amendments to Kennedy's civil rights bill, if the bill still exists. Whatever it is, we need to hear him out, because like it or not, whoever occupies that office holds the fate of our fight against segregation in their hands.
I am the goddamn commander-in-chief, but Lady Bird tells me she will put my ass on the couch if I do not get you to sign this before y'all go. Well, it'd be my pleasure, Mr. President. Outstanding. Welcome to the White House. Won't you please join me?
Alright. Please, please, have a seat. This nasty business down in St. Augustine, the Klan walking the streets, attacking Negroes who were protesting segregation, is awful. It's downright awful. But Dr. King, you and the SCLC, well...You pressuring these local sons of bitches and creating a biracial committee, well, now, that's just outstanding.
We appreciate that, Mr. President. But real change won't occur unless federal intervention is made. Like the civil rights bill proposed by the president, former President Kennedy. Of the great tributes we can pay his memory, trying to enact some of the progressive policies he hoped to initiate would be a needed first step.
I agree with you, Dr. King, and that is why I'm gonna pass this bill without a word, not a comma, being changed. And I am going to do so... just as soon as possible.
From my experience, "As soon as possible" is often used as a scapegoat terminology to satisfy Negro expectations while subduing those of your Washington peers. As soon as we leave this office, Strom Thurmond and his fellow Dixiecrats will rally to kill this bill, like so many others before it. "As soon as possible" isn't good enough.
This bill needs to be executed immediately, or our values and our vision may need to be redirected come reelection time. Well... I, uh... I admire that Texas-sized head on you, Dr. King. And for a nonviolent man, you damn sure are not afraid of a good fight.
Passing civil rights in this political environment is going to be a war. When we reach a crossroad of moral ambiguity, we must be a little daring, a little bolder in our actions. President Kennedy's legacy is a shining example of that, wouldn't you agree, Mr. President?