[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

[[Page H767]]

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.

                          ____________________