Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

A: No, I don't know him.
Q: We have interviewed him and he was one that was opposed to this because,
as he pointed out--and also I found that Senator Arrington had stated--that
there were real problems in finding sufficient black people that were
educated sufficiently to take some of these jobs. Did you find that to be
true?
A: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. There were plenty of black people for
the jobs that they were seeking. No, I don't find that to be true at all.
Q: Well, that seemed to be one of the main oppositions to the bill.
A: Well, you see, if that were sa, just on the basis of logic, if there were
no black people to take the job why would there be any opposition?
Q: Yes, T see. (laughter) Yes, sir, I see.
A: Yes. You're opposed to something because it's a problem to you. If
there are no black people to take the jobs involved, there sha~ldrift'~be any
opposition because there wouldn't be a. problem. So I don't buy that at all.
Q: You don't recall the specific circumstances of the passage of the bill,
then, with the amendments that apparently were made to the bill in order to
make it acceptable to those that were opposed?
A: Yes, well, I don't remember the specific amendments because, you see, I
was in the House at the time and the compromise came in the Senate. But I
could tell you that I would give you a wager that one of the comp.romises
was the large number of businesses that were excluded by the provision that
said that it should only apply to thase coxporations with a hundred or more
employees. That's part of it. They may haw had the initiatory 2lause in
there and they took that out so, when the bill passed in its original form,
there was na initiatory clause giving the commission itself the right to
implement complaints. There might have been some other features in the bill
that gave it strength and teeth that they took out. So that might have been
part of the campromise.
Q: Yes, sir. Then, as soon as that was passed, apparently Mr. Davis and
you and others went right to work to . . .
A: To aMend it up, to amend it to be a stranger bill, yes.
Q: How did you go about keeping together on that? Did you have discussions,
group discussions on this?
A: Well, yes--the right for a person to be able to get a job based on his
own qualifications was so fundamental and basic there was no reason for any
meetings as such. We might have had some strategy meetings in terms of who
or what people we ought to invite to come down to testify for it or something