[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 17, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         IN MEMORY OF L.A. CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST WILLIS EDWARDS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. LAURA RICHARDSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 17, 2012

  Ms. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the memory of 
Willis Edwards who died on July 15, 2012, after waging a valiant battle 
against cancer. He was 66. For more than forty years, Willis Edwards 
served his community and the nation as a soldier in Vietnam, as an 
academic support specialist at the University of Southern California, 
as a civil rights activist and community organizer, as the long-time 
president of the Hollywood/Beverly Hills Chapter of the NAACP, and a 
trusted advisor to presidential candidates.
  Born in Texas in 1946, Mr. Edwards was raised in Palm Springs and 
attended California State University at Los Angeles, where he was 
elected the first African American student body president in the 
school's history. After graduation Mr. Edwards was drafted into the 
U.S. Army and sent to Vietnam where he was awarded a Bronze Star. Upon 
his honorable discharge, Mr. Edwards served as Director of Black 
Student Services at USC.
  Mr. Edwards' political activism in national politics began with 
Robert F. Kennedy's historic 1968 presidential campaign. Through his 
dealings with the Democratic Party, he became a supporter and friend of 
Los Angeles' first black mayor, Tom Bradley, who later appointed him to 
the city's Social Service Commission in 1973.
  In 1982 Mr. Edwards was elected president of the NAACP's Beverly 
Hills/Hollywood branch. He played a major part in getting the group's 
Image Awards, a gala that honored African Americans who worked in front 
of and behind the camera in Hollywood, televised on NBC. He also played 
a leading role in Reverend Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign.
  Mr. Edwards played a major role in securing national honors for Rosa 
Parks; friends say that was his proudest accomplishment. He helped to 
arrange for the civil rights hero to be seated next to First Lady 
Hillary Rodham Clinton during the 1999 State of the Union address. He 
also helped secure for her the Congressional Gold Medal, and for her 
casket to lie in repose in the Rotunda of the Capitol.
  It is easy to forget that among all Mr. Edwards accomplishments in 
the civil rights and political arenas, he was also battling a very 
personal struggle with HIV. The disease nearly took his life 15 years 
ago, but he miraculously recovered with the help of new drugs. In a 
2001 speech to the NAACP he went public about his experience living 
with HIV. He helped to tear down barriers in order to have a frank 
conversation about the disease within the African American Community, 
where it was still regarded as a taboo subject by many.
  Mr. Speaker, with the passing of Willis Edwards, this country has 
lost a great man and leader. My home state of California and county of 
Los Angeles has lost a champion and fighter for civil rights and equal 
opportunity. I have lost a dear friend.
  I ask a moment of silence to honor the memory of Willis Edwards.

                          ____________________