[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 25 (Thursday, February 25, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S803]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 51--HONORING AND PRAISING THE NATIONAL 
 ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE ON THE OCCASION OF 
                         ITS 101ST ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. Reid, Mr. Levin, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. 
Schumer, Mrs. Boxer, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Burris, Mr. 
Lautenberg, Mr. Harkin, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Hagan, Mr. 
Whitehouse, and Mr. Bingaman) submitted the following concurrent 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                            S. Con. Res. 51

       Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of 
     Colored People (referred to in this resolution as the 
     ``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 NAACP was founded by a distinguished group of 
     leaders in the struggle for civil and political liberty, 
     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 equality of 
     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 the press, 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 minority Americans;
       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, Cesar E. Chavez, Barbara C. Jordan, William C. 
     Velasquez, 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 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: (1) the hanging of nooses is a 
     horrible act when used for the purpose of intimidation and 
     which under certain circumstances can be criminal; (2) this 
     conduct should be investigated thoroughly by Federal 
     authorities; and (3) 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 by outlining a strategic 
     plan to confront 21st century challenges in the critical 
     areas of health, education, housing, criminal justice, and 
     environment; and
       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: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) recognizes the 101st 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 equality of all persons.

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