Words of a wise and good American (July 17)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Back in the day when I worked in Washington State, I was in an audience for a speech on civil rights that was the best I have ever heard. It was delivered by then-Superior Court Judge Charles Z. Smith, who later became a four-term member of the Washington State Supreme Court, and who was, and still is, widely regarded as one of the smartest lawyers and most accomplished Americans.
Justice Smith also was a law school associate dean and professor, a radio commentator, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, a special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, president of the American Baptist Churches USA and a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
His speech on civil rights was unbelievably short. It was delivered to a small group of Seattle business people who had gathered in a small upstairs room in downtown Seattle a few days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. The people in the room had gathered to figure out what they could do to head off what they thought at the time would be race riots, and to try to do something for racial justice.
I remember the moment when Charles Z. Smith stood up. He was probably the tallest man in the room, and was dressed like he had just stepped out of the pages of Esquire, in a dark suit, white shirt and red-stripped tie. He stood quietly for a moment, until the room was silent. Then, he spoke:
“There is really only one thing anyone can do to bring about racial justice,” he said. “It is this: Don’t discriminate. Period.”
As I read about the Sotomayor Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Judge Smith’s words seem as true today as they were back then.
By the way, Judge Smith’s father was Cuban, his mother black. But I think of him only as an American — a wise and good American whose words have meaning for me today.
