[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 16, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S803-S804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  COMMENDING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED 
                                 PEOPLE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed 
to S. Con. Res. 6.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the concurrent 
resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 6) commending the 
     National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on 
     the occasion of its 102nd anniversary.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss this concurrent 
resolution that honors the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People, NAACP, on the occasion of its 102nd anniversary. I 
thank Senators Grassley, Leahy, and others for joining me in submitting 
this bipartisan resolution and would like to note that this resolution 
is particularly timely not only because the NAACP just celebrated its 
102nd anniversary, but also because we are celebrating Black History 
Month.
  The NAACP was created amidst great adversity. In 1905, a group of 
African American civil rights activists came together to discuss 
prominent issues that they and many others faced in our Nation. Among 
those discussed issues was disenfranchisement. Despite passage of the 
15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1870, African Americans 
throughout the country were denied their right to one of the 
fundamental methods of civic engagement: the right to vote. In many 
circumstances Jim Crow State laws. These discussions were held on the 
Canadian side of the Niagara Falls because hotels across America 
remained segregated. On February 12, 1909, the centennial of President 
Abraham Lincoln's birth, distinguished leaders in the struggle for 
civil and political liberty, which included W.E.B. DuBois, Ida Wells-
Barnett, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, 
and William English Walling, created the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People. It is now the oldest and largest civil 
rights organization in the United States.
  Its national headquarters is located in my home city of Baltimore, 
MD, and its mission is one that I hold dear; that is, to ensure the 
political, educational, social, and economic equality of the rights of 
all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.
  Over the years, the NAACP has advanced its mission of racial equality 
and has achieved concrete goals to that effect by nonviolent means 
through sheer moral force and legal persuasion. The NAACP initially 
focused on ending the use of lynching, bringing equality into the job 
market, and ensuring voting rights for all. Many of the significant 
legal victories came under the leadership of Charles Houston and his 
protege and fellow Marylander, Thurgood Marshall. Houston is remembered 
for stating, ``[A] lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite on 
society.''
  The duo of Houston and Marshall successfully argued Murray v. 
Maryland, 1936, which resulted in the desegregation of the University 
of Maryland's Law School and in 1938 Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada 
the Supreme Court ordered the admission of a Black student to the Law 
School at the University of Missouri. When Thurgood Marshall served as 
the NAACP's special counsel, the organization continued to fight for 
equality in cases such as Smith v. Allwright, 1944, where Marshall 
challenged ``White primaries,'' which prevented African Americans from 
voting in several Southern States. In Morgan v. Virginia, 1946, the 
Supreme Court struck down a State law that enforced segregation on 
buses and trains that were interstate carriers. In Shelley v Kraemer, 
1948, the NAACP won a battle to end the enforcement of racially 
restrictive housing covenants, which denied access for African 
Americans to homes in what was considered White neighborhoods.
  In 1950, the NAACP provided the legal resources to contest both Texas 
and Oklahoma laws allowing segregated graduate schools in Sweatt v. 
Painter, 1950, and McLaurin v. Oklahoma, 1950. Marshall and the team of 
lawyers argued and won unanimous decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court, 
stating the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment required 
those States to admit African-American students to their respective 
graduate and professional schools. These court rulings supported and 
led to the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 1954, 
which ended racial segregation in our public schools. Marshall went on 
to become the Nation's first African-American Solicitor General, and 
then the Nation's first African-American Supreme Court Justice.
  Additionally, the NAACP has worked tirelessly to win passage of 
important legislation that protects the fundamental rights of all 
Americans. This legislation includes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act. More recently, the 
NAACP played an integral role in ensuring passage of important 
contemporary civil rights bills that I was proud to cosponsor, 
including the Civil Rights Act of 2008, the Matthew Shepard and James 
Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and the landmark Fair Sentencing 
Act, which reduced the gross racial disparity inherent in our 
sentencing laws for crack cocaine.
  One of America's greatest strengths is its rich diversity. From Rosa 
Parks and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Marylanders 
Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Thurgood Marshall, strong 
African-American men and women have become role models for our Nation 
and others around the world who struggle for freedom. During the month 
of February, we all should take a moment to reflect upon the 
achievements and sacrifices of the African-American community--
achievements that might not have been possible without the hard work 
and tireless effort of the NAACP. It also is a time to rededicate 
ourselves to the ideals enshrined in the U.S. Constitution--the ideals 
of equality, freedom and justice--and making sure they are protected 
for future generations. Because in the words of the late Senator Ted 
Kennedy: ``Civil rights is the unfinished business of the Nation.''
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the 
table, there be no intervening action or debate, and any statements be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 6) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

[[Page S804]]

                             S. Con. Res. 6

       Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of 
     Colored People (referred to in this preamble as the 
     ``NAACP''), originally known as the National Negro Committee, 
     was founded in New York City on February 12, 1909, the 
     centennial of the date on which President Abraham Lincoln was 
     born, 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 people 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 on 
     the press, the petition, the ballot, and the courts;
       Whereas the NAACP 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 decision issued by the Supreme Court 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--
       (1) the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (Public Law 85-315; 71 
     Stat. 634);
       (2) the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (Public Law 86-449; 74 
     Stat. 86);
       (3) the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352; 78 
     Stat. 241);
       (4) the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.);
       (5) 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 (Public Law 109-246; 120 Stat. 577); 
     and
       (6) the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.);
       Whereas in 2005, the NAACP launched the Disaster Relief 
     Fund to help hurricane survivors rebuild their lives in the 
     States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and 
     Alabama;
       Whereas in the 110th Congress, the NAACP was prominent in 
     lobbying for the passage of H. Res. 826, the resolved clause 
     of which expresses that--
       (1) the hanging of nooses is a horrible act when used for 
     the purpose of intimidation;
       (2) under certain circumstances, the hanging of nooses can 
     be criminal; and
       (3) the hanging of nooses 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 
     (28 U.S.C. 509 note), a law that puts additional Federal 
     resources into solving the heinous crimes that occurred 
     during the early days of the civil rights struggle that 
     remain unsolved and brings those who perpetrated those crimes 
     to justice;
       Whereas the NAACP has helped usher in the new millennium by 
     charting a bold course, beginning with the appointment of the 
     youngest President and Chief Executive Officer in the history 
     of the organization, Benjamin Todd Jealous, and its youngest 
     female Board Chair, Roslyn M. Brock;
       Whereas under the leadership of Benjamin Todd Jealous and 
     Roslyn M. Brock, the NAACP has outlined a strategic plan to 
     confront 21st century challenges in the critical areas of 
     health, education, housing, criminal justice, and the 
     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; and
       Whereas as an advocate for sentencing reform, the NAACP 
     applauded the enactment 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: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) recognizes the 102nd anniversary of the historic 
     founding of the National Association for the Advancement of 
     Colored People; and
       (2) commends 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 people.

                          ____________________