[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 25 (Thursday, March 2, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E264-E265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING AND PRAISING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 
         COLORED PEOPLE ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 97TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 1, 2006

  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor an organization that has been 
more than a guiding force but, in fact, a leader in advancing civil 
rights for nearly a century. The National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People continues its mission to ensure the 
political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights for all 
people. As the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the 
nation, the men and women working for the NAACP have sought to remove 
all barriers of racial discrimination through their use of legal and 
moral persuasion.
  The NAACP won one of the nation's greatest legal victories; that was 
the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. The NAACP 
was also a prominent power that lobbied for the passage of the Civil 
Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and 
the Fair Housing Act were also achievements of this longstanding 
organization. In 2005, the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help Hurricane 
Katrina survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and 
Alabama rebuild their lives.
  The NAACP was built and grew from the collective courage of thousands 
of people and continues to inspire the high standard of full equality 
to ever younger generations. As grandfather of all civil rights 
organizations, it has been persistent in its commitment to nonviolence, 
even in the face of overt and violent racial hostility. Today, on the 
9th anniversary of the NAACP, it is important to celebrate how these 
men and women advanced their mission through reliance upon the press, 
the petition, the ballot, and the courts. Their premise has been that 
people of all races, nationalities and faiths, men and women, are 
created equal. All Americans must continue to uphold these standards of 
morality and justice.
  I congratulate the NAACP and look forward to celebrating their 
centennial in 3 years.

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