[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 25 (Thursday, February 11, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H764-H767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN HONOR OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED
PEOPLE ON ITS 107TH ANNIVERSARY
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Palmer). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 30 minutes.
General Leave
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks and to include extraneous material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be here tonight
as a proud member of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, known as the NAACP.
I am a member, and I am a life member, and I believe that the NAACP
has had a profound impact upon my life. Hence, tonight, I am going to
talk about the NAACP as I am also the person who is the sponsor of the
original NAACP resolution for 2016. In doing this, I want to praise the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP,
on this, its 107th anniversary.
This resolution has 24 cosponsors. I thank all of them. I also thank
the whip for allowing us this time to talk about the NAACP and to
extoll many of its virtues. I thank all of the leadership for the
opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, this is the 11th time that we have introduced a
resolution to honor the NAACP. It is the oldest civil rights
organization in the United States of America. We introduced it first in
2006, and it was passed in the House by a voice vote and in the Senate
by unanimous consent. When it passed in the House in 2006, it did not
do so because of our help alone--``our help'' meaning the Congressional
Black Caucus. I want you to know, Mr. Speaker, that Mr. James
Sensenbrenner, who was the chairperson of the Judiciary Committee at
the time, was there to help us get this amendment passed. I have talked
on the floor about the White side of Black history. Mr. Sensenbrenner
would be a part of that history because, if not for his presence, I
assure you we would not have passed this resolution in 2006.
We went on to pass it in 2007, and it passed in the House with a vote
of 410-0. In 2008, it passed in the House of Representatives by 403-0;
in 2009, by 424-0; in 2010, by 421-0. In 2010, of course, and
thereafter, we stopped passing resolutions on the floor of the House;
although, we may still present them and talk about them on the floor of
the House. So, tonight, this is what we will do.
I would like to mention the mission of the NAACP, which is to ensure
the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all
persons--not just of Black people, not just of people of color, but of
all people. The NAACP also desires to eliminate racial hatred and
racial discrimination. These are lofty and noble goals because we
understand that we have had much racial hatred and much racial
discrimination in this country, and the NAACP took it upon itself to
eliminate as much of it as possible. It has done a good job, I might
add.
Let's look at a little bit of the history of the NAACP.
Back on February 12, 1909, a group of people decided that it was
going to do something about the lynchings that were taking place in
this country. Literally, in this country, between 1889 and 1918,
thousands of African Americans were lynched--thousands. Lynching was
done with mob violence. People were taken to trees, and they were
lynched. It was done, a good many times, with impunity. No one was ever
prosecuted. It was a grave injustice, and there were people in this
country who decided that they were going to do something about this
injustice. Among the people who met initially were Mary White Ovington,
Oswald Garrison Villard, William English Walling, and Ida Wells-
Barnett. These persons met and issued a clarion call. Some 60 persons
answered that call. Hence, the NAACP was born.
The NAACP did not have its first African American as an executive
secretary until 1920. It is important for us to note that many of the
Founders of the NAACP--in fact, most of them--were not of African
ancestry. The first executive secretaries of the organization were all
persons who were of European ancestry. In fact, the first five
executive secretaries were White. They were not Black. In 1934, the
NAACP had its first Black board chairperson--Louis T. Wright. Dr.
Wright became chairperson after the NAACP had had a good number of
White chairpersons. So the NAACP has never been and is not now an
organization for Blacks only. The NAACP has always stood for an
integrated society and has been an integrated organization since its
inception.
In 1954, the NAACP, under the leadership and counsel of the Honorable
Thurgood Marshall, who became a Justice of the Supreme Court, won the
lawsuit of Brown v. Board of Education. This was a giant leap forward
for us because this lawsuit integrated, to a certain extent, schools
throughout the country. The word that was appropriately used at the
time was ``desegregated.'' These schools were ordered to be
desegregated with all deliberate speed, and all deliberate speed can
sometimes take a lot longer than one might expect. A good many years
later, there are still those who would contend that we have not fully
integrated our school systems across the length and breadth of the
country.
In 1955, an NAACP member, the Honorable Rosa Parks, an African
American lady, decided that she was going to take a stand, and she took
that stand by taking a seat. She took a seat on a bus. In so doing, she
ignited a spark that started a civil rights movement. By the way, there
are many people who contend that she did this because she was tired.
Well, she may have been tired, but she did it because she wanted to
take a stand. She was tired of society's relegating her to the back of
the bus, and she took a stand against it. Hence, we had the Montgomery
Bus Boycott, which lasted more than a year. At the end of that boycott,
the bus line--the transportation system--was integrated in Alabama and,
of course, later on throughout the country.
An interesting note on this point about the integration and
desegregation of bus lines. There was a three-judge panel that actually
heard the litigation associated with this transportation issue. On that
three-judge panel, there were judges who had a
[[Page H765]]
great debate about this; but there was one Frank M. Johnson, a Federal
district court judge, who took the position that we could apply the
Brown decision to public transportation. This was the very first time
it was done was under the leadership of that three-judge panel and by
the Honorable Frank M. Johnson.
Again, I point these things out because it is important to note that
there were others who were there with the NAACP to help us along the
way. Frank M. Johnson, by the way, was a Republican appointee who was
appointed by President Eisenhower, and he went on to help us to
integrate schools throughout the South and integrate the Department of
Public Safety. He went on to help us with the facilitation of voting
rights acts and with the implementation of laws that prohibited persons
from discriminating against persons in workplace environments. He
really played a significant role as did many other persons who were
associated with the NAACP in a vicarious way, because I don't have
evidence of his having been a member.
I want to move forward, if I may next, to 2008. I move forward to
2008 because this is when the NAACP supported the passage of the Emmett
Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007. There are many unsolved
cases in the history of this country with reference to things that
happened to African Americans. The NAACP pushed for and supported
legislation such that we can have the opportunity to bring some of the
dastards to justice who have caused great harm to people who were doing
no harm to anyone. The NAACP has fought for this.
In 2009, the NAACP celebrated its centennial anniversary, and the
theme at that time was ``Bold Dreams and Big Victories''--obviously, a
good theme because the NAACP has won many big victories.
In 2012, the NAACP supported the Smart and Safe campaign, which
brought attention to the overpopulated prisons and mass incarceration
in this country. People who study these issues are well aware that, in
this country, we have an overpopulation of persons who are
incarcerated. Much of this has to do with mandatory sentencing laws.
Much of it has to do with laws that allow persons who are convicted of
one type of offense, with drugs, to receive a harsher penalty--cocaine,
for example. Then, if you have crack cocaine, you will get a stiffer
penalty as opposed to its being some other type of cocaine.
The point is that these harsh sentencing laws have caused a good many
people to be incarcerated who, quite frankly, should not be
incarcerated for as long as they are incarcerated. Some of these
``three strikes and you are out'' laws have also caused persons to go
to prison for a minor offense because it happened to be the third
offense; so the NAACP is fighting against this.
The NAACP wants a just society. The NAACP believes that people who
commit crimes ought to be punished, but that they ought to be punished
in a fair and just way. Hence, the NAACP has supported trying to do
what it can to help us with the overpopulation in prisons due to unjust
laws.
The NAACP joined the lawsuit challenging the Texas strict voter ID
law. In Texas--and you heard colleagues earlier tonight talk about
this--we have one of the most draconian photo ID laws in the country.
It is one that requires people who have been voting all of their
lives--who have a history of voting, where a person at the polling
place knows who you are if you show up to vote--to present a photo ID.
The interesting thing about it is, if you vote by mail, you don't have
to do this, and most of the fraud that takes place probably takes place
by mail because you don't have the same identification process. I find
it onerous that we, in Texas, would be subjected to this type of law,
and, of course, we are doing what we can to get it properly disposed
of. The NAACP is part of the effort to make sure this is done.
{time} 1845
In 2014, the NAACP was a leader in the effort to strengthen the
Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act, as has been explained by
colleagues prior to my taking the podium, has had section 4 eviscerated
and, as a result, section 5 has been emasculated.
Section 4 was the section of the Voting Rights Act that brought
certain places in the country under the purview of the Voting Rights
Act. Section 5 is the section, then, that imposes the standards that
have to be adhered to. Well, you can't have a strong section 5 if you
don't have a section 4 to outline, to specify, to delineate the actual
areas that are to be covered by the Voting Rights Act.
The NAACP is still working with us to help us get a strong Voting
Rights Act so that people who have been disenfranchised, people who
have been discriminated against will have the right to vote in this,
the United States of America.
In 2015, the NAACP, after the death of Trayvon Martin, advocated for
the arrest of his killer. The NAACP never said that he had to go to
jail, but the belief was that, under the circumstances that existed at
the time, the perpetrator should be prosecuted. There should, at least,
be a trial. There should be an opportunity for the world to understand
what happened to Trayvon Martin.
As a result, there was a trial. There was a finding. The NAACP was at
the forefront, a part of the avant guard, if you will, to make sure
that Trayvon Martin received justice. A trial is what ultimately
occurred. I would daresay that, but for the NAACP and many other
persons of goodwill, this would not have taken place.
Finally, I want to point out that the NAACP has also ventured into
what is happening in Flint, Michigan. This is some serious business
that we have to take care of in Michigan. In Flint, Michigan, we have a
circumstance wherein children, among others, but children have been
poisoned. This was not at the hands of some major corporation that was
doing something that was inappropriate. It was not at the hands of a
civilian, some person who just decided he was going to do something
ugly. It was not at the hands of some person associated with some sort
of terrorist organization.
This was done by the government, at the hands of the government.
Children have been poisoned at the hands of the government. That is an
important point for us to digest because one does not expect that one
would be poisoned by consuming the elixir of life, water, in this
country. Especially, one would not assume this given that this country
has some of the best technology and filtration systems in the world. In
fact, there are none better than ours.
One would not expect that in a city wherein the water was fine before
the hand of the government was imposed upon citizens, such that they
couldn't make the choice themselves as to how they were going to
regulate their water. A special person was put in charge at the hands
of the State government, the Governor having the authority to appoint a
person who literally took control of the city and, in so doing, caused
great harm to befall young people, children, if you will.
When this happens, we have a duty, a responsibility, and an
obligation to take immediate action to not only bring people to justice
who would do this, but also to impose a just system such that persons
who had been harmed can be made whole to the extent that people can be
made whole. I say this because, truth be told, you cannot make these
persons completely whole. All of the intelligence that we are receiving
indicates that once you receive lead poisoning, you don't recover
totally and completely. There will be some residue, and this can go on
for years and years and years.
So the NAACP went there immediately and made it clear that it
expected action and had a 15-point plan. I will say more about the 15-
point plan as time permits because I want to honor my colleague, the
Honorable Chaka Fattah, if he is available at this time. Given that he
is on his way, I will continue.
The 15-point plan has 15 priorities that are listed, and I will go
through these priorities rather quickly. They are, one, the emergency
financial manager law must be repealed. This is the law that I spoke of
earlier that allowed for the Governor to impose upon the citizens of
Flint, Michigan, this emergency financial manager.
Much of this was done unfortunately under the auspices of saving
money--some persons have said that we are talking about $100 a day--
saving some small amount of money so that some person who holds public
office could
[[Page H766]]
stand before the public and say: I saved you money. I saved you money.
Look at what I have done.
Well, look at what you have done: You have changed the lives of
innocent people forever in an effort to save a little bit of money and
hold yourself out as a person who is cutting the budget, who is saving
money for the taxpayers.
There are times when tax dollars are used effectively and
efficaciously, and what they were doing with the water prior to this
cut was a pretty good example of how things that are doing well can be
corrected such that harm is placed upon people. I regret that it
happened, but I am proud however that the NAACP is there to help us
with this process of making people whole.
The second part of the plan would require water distribution that is
currently being done by the National Guard to be done by local people.
The National Guard does a good job, and I salute the National Guard for
what they are doing. The truth is that local people need work, and this
would provide them the opportunity to work and to be a part of the
water distribution process. There is all of the good sense in the world
in working out a system so that we can pay people who need work to help
themselves by distributing water in their communities.
The third point is access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and other food
items. Because to a certain extent, this is a food desert area in some
parts of Flint, Michigan. As a result, there is a desire to make sure
that all persons can have access to fresh fruits and fresh vegetables--
good, clean, wholesome food.
Number four, all Flint citizens must be provided free home
inspections. There are many homes that have not been properly
inspected. The water source that leads into the home has to be
inspected, the lines, and this should be done at no cost to all
citizens. The NAACP stands for this. My belief is that this will
happen, but I am proud that the NAACP voiced a concern that it should
happen.
I mentioned the Honorable Chaka Fattah from Pennsylvania's Second
Congressional District.
I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) with the
notion that I will reclaim time that he may not utilize.
Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the Lone Star
State. He is a good friend, and I know that we have had an occasion to
work together on water systems in Texas in my role as a member of the
Appropriations Committee. We were able to work successfully on aiding
communities that needed access to clean, safe water.
We had a hearing yesterday on the Hill on Flint in which we heard
from the mayor and a host of other people. It is a circumstance in
which, I think, we should have the utmost urgency and that the Army
Corps should move aggressively. I would even hope that the President
would take action, if necessary, to nationalize the Guard to make sure
that people in Flint get water.
I am rising today in honor of the birth of the NAACP. This is the
most loved, most hated, the largest, the oldest, the boldest civil
rights organization ever created. It has been at the forefront of
efforts to have our Nation become the more perfect Union that the
Founders had envisioned.
At every point, it has agitated, both in the streets and in the
suites, to make changes. Here on the Hill, there is not an organization
that has more consistently let their voice be heard on a whole range of
issues. So I rise to thank those who have been a part thereof and who
will continue to be.
The local NAACP in Philadelphia had an antiviolence march all the way
across a major thoroughfare in our city, 52nd Street. It was great to
see an organization that obviously has a lot of sophistication, but it
also has the touch at the neighborhood level to reach out to people and
to have people understand that individual responsibility to make
communities safer is as important as public policy initiatives that
might be generated in halls of the legislature like here.
So I want to thank the NAACP for all it has done. We hosted the
National Convention in Philadelphia. I had a chance to open up the
convention and to fly in with the President when he came to address our
criminal justice reform.
We have so much to do in our country. And we have the understanding
that in order to do complicated work, we need organizations to do it.
It is difficult for individuals themselves to achieve a lot, but when
working together, we can achieve almost anything.
We are in a range of dates here of import. Just the other day, we
acknowledged the announcement date in which President Barack Obama
announced he was going to run for President. Yesterday was the day that
Nelson Mandela walked free from a prison cell in Robben Island for over
two decades.
So February 12th is when people of different ethnic backgrounds,
different racial backgrounds got together--people like Ida B. Wells and
W.E.B. DuBois got together and said that there was going to be an
effort to put together a membership-based organization, rooted in
neighborhoods, rooted in individuals who would come together in their
local communities and who would fight on a variety of levels--on the
policy level, in the courts, and also work in neighborhoods at a
neighborhood level to improve the lives of people of our country,
particularly people who had been disproportionately ill-served by
government institutions and people of color in our country who had to
work for years, in fact, centuries without a paycheck and who were
prohibited by law to do basic things like marry, or own a home, or own
land, who had to bear the brunt of a criminal justice system that, even
to this day, is yet to be perfected.
So we have a history, but it is made better because of the NAACP. So
I wanted to come and thank my colleague for holding this Special Order
here on the House floor. I don't usually speak in Special Orders. I
think, over my 20 years, it is a very unusual thing, but I came today
because the NAACP has laid the foundation under which so much of the
progress we have made as a country has been made possible.
I look forward to an opportunity to continue to work with him on
issues of importance to his State, to our country, and to this world.
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. I thank the gentleman especially for taking to
the floor tonight and sharing his views on the NAACP. I also especially
thank him for the good work that he has done in the Congress of the
United States of America. He has served his constituents well, and he
should be saluted.
Mr. Speaker, it has been said that if we did not have the NAACP, we
would have to create it. That is just how vital it is to the American
system of justice. It is not an official arm of the American system of
justice, but it is an aid to justice in this country such that people
expect the NAACP to be there under certain circumstances and in certain
places.
This gets us back to Flint. People expected the NAACP to be there,
and the NAACP was there. As I continue, Mr. Speaker, permit me to ask
how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 3 minutes remaining.
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in consuming this time, let me
continue to point out some of the things that the NAACP has within its
15-point priority plan.
{time} 1900
Number five is that all Flint residents must be provided federally
funded replacements for their damaged systems and appliances. What they
are saying and what the NAACP is saying is simply this: There are some
appliances that have been so damaged that they cannot continue to use
these appliances. As a result, they have to be replaced. These are
people not of great means, and any help that they can get to maintain a
good quality of life should be afforded them.
The NAACP has indicated that fairness and justice must be examined in
rate hikes and in continued billing for poisonous water.
I heard Mr. Cummings make this point at a hearing. He made the point
that people are still paying water bills for water that they can't
drink. That was at the hearing. I am not sure what the situation is
now. My understanding is that persons are still getting water in
bottles, but are they still paying their water bills?
The NAACP believes that fairness and justice must be examined in
terms of the rate hikes that have taken place
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and the continued billing of persons for water that they cannot use
because the State made a mistake.
The NAACP believes that pro bono legal advice should be made
available to all. With this, I think that we can expect and hope that
the various bar associations would step up to the plate and help
persons who are in need of legal advice. This is something that lawyers
do eleemosynary quite often. I would hope that lawyers would move in
and help persons, but if they don't move in and help persons, I think
we have got a responsibility--we have done this in the past with funds
that have gone to legal aid societies--to do something so that people
who need some legal advice and some legal assistance can receive that
advice and that assistance.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I will just say this: Thank you
for the time. I want to always celebrate the NAACP and all of its great
victories.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to celebrate the 107th
anniversary of the NAACP, an organization dedicated to eradicating
racism and injustice in the United States. Since its founding in 1909,
the NAACP has been a constant voice in the fight for civil rights. But,
unlike other organizations, its original battlefield was the courtroom.
The founders of the NAACP were smart. They understood that in order
to combat ignorance, you must first change the laws that foster it.
One of their first actions was to lobby against Jim Crow lynching
laws. Though their efforts were unsuccessful, they turned the nation's
attention to the ongoing mistreatment of Blacks in the 1920s and '30s.
In 1954, the NAACP played a pivotal role in the historic landmark
case, Brown v. Board of Education. A team of NAACP lawyers joined
Thurgood Marshall in a series of legal battles that would lead to
segregation in public education being ruled unconstitutional.
The organization was then instrumental in the passage of the Civil
Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1965.
Since its inception, the NAACP has been our champion, and its
expertise is now needed more than ever.
We are at a critical point in our nation's history, where strategic,
collaborative efforts are best to move our country forward. Like the
NAACP, we must be catalysts for change, not the cause of division.
The anniversary of the NAACP's founding reminds us what can be done
when we work together. We all must play a role in the advancement of
our communities.
To quote NAACP member Ms. Rosa Parks, ``Racism is still with us. But
it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and,
hopefully, we shall overcome.'' As a nation, we must reject
discrimination in any form and give all children a chance to succeed in
the land of the free and the home of the brave.
To the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
the NAACP, my sincerest gratitude for all you have done to shape
American history and ensure all of us have an opportunity to fully
participate in the American dream. Thank you for being there in the
streets, on college campuses, and at the courthouse. Our communities
are indebted to you for the vision in 1909, and the 107 years dedicated
to righting the wrongs of our nation's past. Thank you for persevering
and changing the face of America.
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