[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 30 (Monday, February 25, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        HONORING AND PRAISING THE NAACP ON ITS 99TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 13, 2008

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise and join my colleague, the 
Honorable Al Green of Texas, in honoring the National Association for 
the Advancement of Colored People on the occasion of its 99th 
anniversary. As we celebrate Black History Month, it is only 
appropriate that we do so by recognizing our Nation's oldest and 
largest civil rights organization.
  The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909, by Ida Wells-Barnett, 
W.E.B. Dubois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison 
Villard, and William English Walling.
  Since its inception, the NAACP has united students, laborers, 
professionals, scholars, officials, and others of all races to advance 
its vision of ``a society in which all individuals have equal rights 
and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination.''
  Historically, the NAACP is probably best known for its role and that 
of Thurgood Marshall in the seminal case of Brown v. Board of 
Education, in which the Supreme Court held in 1954 that ``separate 
educational facilities are inherently unequal.'' Yet we must not forget 
that the NAACP has been at the forefront of all efforts to secure 
equality and justice for every American throughout the 20th century and 
now into the 21st century.
  The NAACP spoke out against lynching, challenged racially biased 
Supreme Court Justice nominees as early as 1930, and pursued 
nondiscrimination policies in the military, war-related industries, and 
the Federal Government during the world wars.
  At the height of the civil rights era, the NAACP fought battles on 
the ground, in the courtroom, and in Congress, where it lobbied for 
passage of civil rights legislation, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  Since then and during our current session, the NAACP has lobbied for 
hate crimes legislation and other legislation that protects minorities, 
not necessarily based on race, but based on discrimination.
  Today, on the shoulders of distinguished members and leaders such as 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Medgar 
Evers, Merlie Evers-Williams, Benjamin Hooks, Julian Bond, Jesse 
Turner, Sr., Maxine Vasco Smith, and Kweisi Mfume, the NAACP continues 
to fight the good fight.
  Most recently, the NAACP is promoting African American graduation and 
college readiness, protecting and advancing voting rights, and 
identifying solutions to the subprime mortgage foreclosure crisis. I 
have the privilege of working with the association to further these 
important efforts.
  So, in recognizing the NAACP's past and present, I again salute the 
organization on its near centennial anniversary. I am confident the 
NAACP will remain an integral part of our Nation's efforts to protect 
and promote civil rights in the future and move society forward in a 
progressive manner on a wide array of issues.
  I urge my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 289.

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