[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 2 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 2

 Honoring and praising the National Association for the Advancement of 
        Colored People on the occasion of its 106th anniversary.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2015

  Mr. Al Green of Texas (for himself, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. 
   Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Norton, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Richmond, Ms. 
    Jackson Lee, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. 
Edwards, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. 
 Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Lee, Mr. Lewis, 
Ms. Bass, Ms. Fudge, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Conyers, 
     Mr. Veasey, and Ms. Moore) submitted the following concurrent 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Honoring and praising the National Association for the Advancement of 
        Colored People on the occasion of its 106th anniversary.

Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 
        originally known as the National Negro Committee, was founded in New 
        York City on February 12, 1909, the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's 
        birth, by a multiracial group of activists who met in a national 
        conference to discuss the civil and political rights of African-
        Americans;
Whereas the multiracial founders of the NAACP were a distinguished group of 
        leaders in the struggle for human rights, including Ida Wells-Barnett, 
        W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison 
        Villard, and William English Walling;
Whereas the NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the 
        United States;
Whereas the NAACP National Headquarters is located in Baltimore, Maryland;
Whereas the mission of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, 
        social, and economic rights of all persons and to eliminate racial 
        hatred and racial discrimination;
Whereas the NAACP is committed to achieving its goals through nonviolence;
Whereas the NAACP advances its mission through reliance upon peaceful protest, 
        the petition, the ballot, and the courts, and has been persistent in the 
        use of legal and moral persuasion, even in the face of overt and violent 
        racial hostility;
Whereas the NAACP has used political pressure, marches, demonstrations, and 
        effective lobbying to serve as the voice, as well as the shield, for 
        minorities in the United States;
Whereas after years of fighting segregation in public schools, the NAACP, under 
        the leadership of Special Counsel Thurgood Marshall, won one of its 
        greatest legal victories in the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. 
        Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954);
Whereas in 1955, NAACP member Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for refusing to 
        give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, an act of 
        courage that would serve as the catalyst for the largest grassroots 
        civil rights movement in the history of the United States;
Whereas the NAACP was prominent in lobbying for the passage of the Civil Rights 
        Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Fannie 
        Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Ceesar E. Chaavez, Barbara C. 
        Jordan, William C. Velaasquez, and Dr. Hector P. Garcia Voting Rights 
        Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, and the Fair Housing 
        Act, laws that ensured Government protection for legal victories 
        achieved;
Whereas in 2005, the NAACP launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help hurricane 
        survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Alabama to 
        rebuild their lives;
Whereas in the 110th Congress, the NAACP was prominent in lobbying for the 
        passage of H. Res. 826, whose resolved clause expresses that the hanging 
        of nooses is a horrible act when used for the purpose of intimidation 
        and which under certain circumstances can be criminal, this conduct 
        should be investigated thoroughly by Federal authorities, and any 
        criminal violations should be vigorously prosecuted;
Whereas in 2008, the NAACP vigorously supported the passage of the Emmett Till 
        Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007, a law that puts additional 
        Federal resources into solving the heinous crimes that occurred in the 
        early days of the civil rights struggle that remain unsolved and 
        bringing those who perpetrated such crimes to justice;
Whereas the NAACP has helped usher in the new millennium by charting a bold 
        course, beginning with the appointment of the organization's youngest 
        President and Chief Executive Officer, Benjamin Todd Jealous, and its 
        youngest female Board Chair, Roslyn M. Brock;
Whereas under their leadership, the NAACP has outlined a strategic plan to 
        confront 21st century challenges in the critical areas of health, 
        education, housing, criminal justice, and environment;
Whereas, on July 16, 2009, the NAACP celebrated its centennial anniversary in 
        New York City, highlighting an extraordinary century of Bold Dreams, Big 
        Victories with a historic address from the first African-American 
        President of the United States, Barack Obama;
Whereas as an advocate for sentencing reform, the NAACP applauded the passage of 
        the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-220; 124 Stat. 2372), a 
        landmark piece of legislation that reduces the quantity of crack cocaine 
        that triggers a mandatory minimum sentence for a Federal conviction of 
        crack cocaine distribution from 100 times that of people convicted of 
        distributing the drug in powdered form to 18 times that sentence;
Whereas in 2011, the NAACP led the charge to defend the constitutional right to 
        vote and to protect that right for all citizens of the United States, 
        whether they be seniors, young voters, the poor, or from minority 
        communities;
Whereas in 2013, the NAACP signed a historic Memorandum of Agreement with the 
        Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to put mechanisms in place to 
        ensure that the needs of underrepresented communities are more fully 
        integrated into future plans for disaster preparedness; and
Whereas in 2014, the NAACP was a leader in the effort to strengthen the Voting 
        Rights Act and protect the principle of ``one person, one vote'': Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) recognizes the 106th anniversary of the historic 
        founding of the National Association for the Advancement of 
        Colored People; and
            (2) honors and praises the National Association for the 
        Advancement of Colored People on the occasion of its 
        anniversary for its work to ensure the political, educational, 
        social, and economic rights of all persons.
                                 <all>