[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 33 (Tuesday, February 27, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E409-E410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING AND PRAISING THE NAACP ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 98TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of cakufirbua

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 12, 2007

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 
44, legislation to honor the National Association for the Advancement 
of Colored People (NAACP) on the occasion of its 98th anniversary. The 
NAACP is an established and proven civil rights organization and a 
leading voice for justice and human rights for all.
  The NAACP has several national achievements but I'd like to highlight 
our local successes. In California's 9th Congressional District, I am 
honored to say the Oakland NAACP branch, established in 1913, was the 
first NAACP chapter in Northern California. It represented the cities 
of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley.
  In fact, the Oakland NAACP branch played a pivotal role in the civil 
rights struggle in California. The branch participated in the 
organization's national campaign to eliminate Jim Crow laws and to 
support anti-lynching legislation.
  In the late 1950's and 1960's, Bishop Nichols, then Pastor of Downs 
Memorial United Methodist Church in North Oakland, joined with national 
leaders to advocate for economic, social and educational justice in the 
Bay Area. He was chair of the Berkeley NAACP Education Committee and 
President of the Berkeley Board of Education (four years before the 
school district became the first to voluntarily integrate schools).
  In addition, one of Oakland's own, Judge Cecile Poole served as 
director of the NAACP Defense and Legal Education Fund. Judge Poole 
became the first African-American United States Attorney, and the first 
black federal judge for the Northern District of California. And 
although he passed away ten years ago, his legacy and work with the 
NAACP to promote respect and basic civil rights for all disenfranchised 
people is still felt in the East Bay and throughout our Nation.

  Mr. Speaker, with members, such as Bishop Nichols, Judge Cecile 
Poole, Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. DuBois, Coretta Scott King, Fannie Lou 
Hamer, and Rosa Parks, there's no doubt that the NAACP served as the 
catalyst for the largest grassroots civil rights movement in U.S. 
history.
  The NAACP remains a vehicle to push for legal action against 
injustice and an advocate for human and civil rights for all.
  Their political accomplishments such as ending the separate but equal 
policy in

[[Page E410]]

schools or ending the racist Jim Crow segregation of buses, restaurants 
and public facilities, and their lobbying efforts which ultimately led 
to the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the reauthorization of the Fannie Lou 
Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act of 2006, 
must be commended.
  And Mr. Speaker, the NAACP took the helm to organize the national 
boycott against American companies doing business with the former 
apartheid regime in South Africa. The NAACP also protested, most 
recently in 2000, the flying of the confederate flag over state 
buildings in South Carolina, which to date was, the largest civil 
rights demonstration (50,000 people) ever held in the South. The 
importance of this organization whose impact has been demonstrated in 
almost every part of the country and in many parts of the world cannot 
be overstated.
  But the critical work of the NAACP is needed now more then ever. The 
slow systematic dismantling of Affirmative Action; the declining 
homeownership rates of African American families; the growing poverty 
rate of African American families and the growing achievement gap 
between white and black children; the disproportionate incarceration 
rates of black male youth, and the growing illiteracy rate of black 
children are all important causes for the NAACP.
  Add to that fact that the NAACP was a leading champion of the 
Hurricanes' Katrina and Rita survivors. They are still pushing for 
justice for all in the Gulf Coast region and you can see why the NAACP 
is sill so necessary today.
  We must continue to beat the drum and join the NAACP in their efforts 
to bring their mission for economic and social justice for all to 
reality.
  Mr. Speaker, we have come a long way since the founding days of the 
NAACP, Brown vs. Board of Education, the Voting Rights Act. In the 
words of former NAACP president Bruce Gordon, ``There is still a lot of 
civil rights work to be done. Many people believe the passing of Rosa 
Parks, Coretta Scott-King and other icons of the movement signals that 
the task is over. ``He added, ``Nothing could be further from the 
truth.''

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