“We would all agree that the traveler is and should be free not to buy. He can pass a motel he doesn’t like in town, if he doesn’t like the color, or he doesn’t like the name. He can stop and go in and when he sees the owner he can decide he doesn’t like him because he doesn’t like his mustache, or his accent, or his prices, or his race, or his customers. He can turn around and walk out for any reason, or for no reason at all. Why not? He’s a free man. So is the owner of the property. And if the traveler is free not to buy because he doesn’t like the owner’s mustache, accent, prices, race, other customers, or for any or no reason, the owner of the property ought to have the same freedom. That’s simple justice. The wonder is that it can be questioned.”
C. Farris Bryant
Florida Governor — 1961-1965
This is the argument for Freedom of Association that Americans no longer embrace. It is the simplest of logic and yet Freedom of Association is now seen as “bigoted.”
