Dr. Leon Bass speaks during a commemoration of Human Rights Day held Monday by the City of Chattanooga’s Office of Multicultural Affairs at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.Dr. Leon Bass fought for his country as a World War II soldier, but his country told him he wasn’t good enough to drink from a public water fountain, he said.
He was angry because of the racism he experienced. But when he saw the atrocities people experienced in a concentration camp in Germany, he vowed to take action.
“I made up my mind if I ever got out of this war alive I was going to do something when I got home,” Bass said.
A 19-year-old soldier in World War II, Bass is 87 now and has spent at least three decades traveling the country telling audiences how others suffered when there was no regard for human rights.
Bass spoke to about 60 people attending the Office of Multicultural Affairs’ Human Rights Day commemoration Monday. The day was the 64th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.