[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.
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