Your Worship has just pronounced his verdict in a case in which I and fifty-one other colleagues are charged with Pass Offences. Before your Worship passes sentence on me, I want to indicate that I am the Secretary-General of the African National Congress, which was founded in 1912 to fight for the abolition of all discriminatory laws and for the freedom and national independence of the African people. Since this date, Congress has endeavoured by every constitutional means to bring to the notice of the Government the legitimate aspirations of the African people. Far from improving, the position of my people gradually deteriorated through the passage of such laws as the Land Act of 1913, which deprived us of our land, the Native Urban Areas Act, of 1923, which introduced the infamous Section 17 under which hundreds of thousands of innocent people are hounded by the police and gaoled every year, the Natives Administration. Act of 1927, which vested the Government [Governor-General] with unbridled despotism in his government of the African people, the Representation Act of 1936, which deprived us of our Franchise Rights, and numerous other measures which are calculated to prevent the realisation of our destination. Our position has so worsened that today white South Africa has placed into office a government which has closed all constitutional channels between itself and my people and whose barbarous and Godless policies have shocked enlightened opinion all over the world. As an African, and National Secretary of the Congress, I cannot stand aside in an issue which is a matter of life and death to my people. My duty is perfectly clear - it is to take the lead and to share with the humblest of my countrymen the crushing burden, imposed upon us because of the colour of our skins. In conclusion, I wish to make this solemn vow and in full appreciation of the consequences it entails. As long as I enjoy the confidence of my people, and as long as there is a spark of life and energy in me, I shall fight with courage and determination for the abolition of discriminatory laws and for the freedom of all South Africans irrespective of colour or creed.
1 Thomas Karis and Gwendolen M. Carter (eds.) From Protest to Challenge, volume 2, page 484.