Senate Concurrent Resolution 10--Honoring and Praising the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on the Occasion of its 98th....

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 10--HONORING AND PRAISING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 98TH ANNIVERSARY -- (Senate - February 12, 2007)

Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Mr. REID, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. MILULSKI, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LUGAR, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. Menendez, Ms. LANDRIEU, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. STABENOW, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. WEBB, Mr. BYRD, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. STEVENS, Mr. WARNER, Mr. CASEY, and Mr. BAUCUS) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

S. Con. Res. 10

Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), originally known as the National Negro Committee, was founded in New York City on February 12, 1909, the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, by a multiracial group of activists who answered ``The Call' for 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 Villiard, and William English Walling;

Whereas the NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States;

Whereas the mission of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons 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 upon the press, the petition, the ballot, and the courts, and 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 minority Americans;

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 Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483;

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 the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964 (Public Laws 85-315, 86-449, and 88-352), the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-110), the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-284), and the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-246), laws that ensured legislative protection for victories in the courts; and

Whereas, in 2005, the NAACP launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Alabama to rebuild their lives after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That the Congress--

(1) recognizes the 98th anniversary of the historic founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and

(2) honors and praises the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for its work to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all persons.

Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, as today marks the 98th anniversary of the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), I am proud to submit a concurrent resolution to honor our country's oldest and largest civil rights organization for the work they have done to change the path of our Nation. The legacy of pioneers such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, hundreds more cannot and must not be forgotten. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution honoring and praising the NAACP for 98 years of championing the cause of equality in the United States.

At the dawn of the 20th century--over half a century after the Civil War--African Americans were still denied the full rights of citizenship. They were forced to endure the daily humiliation and struggle of economic exploitation, social segregation, and sometimes even physical brutality. Racial tensions began to escalate, resulting in riots and lynchings.

It was at this critical juncture in our Nation's history that a group of concerned citizens, recognizing the urgent need to address these intolerable conditions, gathered to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in New York City.

Since its founding, the NAACP has sought to eliminate racial discrimination and has fought for the social, political, and economic equality of all Americans, while maintaining its commitment to nonviolence in achieving these goals.

In 1918, the NAACP successfully persuaded President Wilson to publicly condemn lynching and continued to raise awareness about this horrifying crime. The NAACP fought for, and ultimately achieved, desegregation of the military as well as other federal government institutions.

They were also deeply influential in watershed court cases such as Buchanan vs. Warley, where the Supreme Court held that states cannot restrict and segregate residential districts. In the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, the NAACP successfully argued that the ``separate, but equal' doctrine was unconstitutional, thereby making segregation in public schools illegal. The NAACP has also played an integral role in the passage of essential civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1957, 1960, and 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Rights Act. Their efforts continue today. The NAACP led efforts to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act last year. They recognize that we must continue vigilantly to guard against the resurgence of discriminatory practices that would deprive African Americans of the most fundamental right of democracy--the right to vote.

Notwithstanding its powerful voice and extraordinary accomplishments, we must never forget that the NAACP works through the tireless efforts of its individual members united around a common vision of justice and equality. One act of civil disobedience, by NAACP member Rosa Parks, helped to spark the civil rights movement. Another member, Medgar Evers, worked tirelessly, despite many threats, to desegregate schools and to investigate the murder of Emmett Till.

Mary Burnett Talbert, a teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas, was one of the founders of the NAACP and eventually became its president. She once wrote that ``by her peculiar position the colored woman has gained clear powers of observation and judgment--exactly the sort of powers which are today peculiarly necessary to the building of an ideal country.' The NAACP continues to take us closer to the ``ideal country' that Mary Talbert envisioned, with every public education campaign, every fight over a judicial nomination, and every lobbying effort to pass progressive legislation.

The NAACP's has always been a multiracial and multicultural organization. Many of its founding members were white, including Oswald Garrison Villiard, Mary White Ovington, and Henry Moscowitz.

Despite the last century of achievements, substantial racial disparities still persist today in educational achievement, access to health care, and economic prosperity. Hurricane Katrina highlighted the tragic and enduring link between race and poverty in our country, as well as emphasized our nation's failure to care for those among us least able to provide for themselves. It is no surprise that the NAACP raised nearly $2 million to aid the victims of the hurricane.

The NAACP has always stood ready to face these and other challenges. Ninety-eight years after a group of concerned citizens assembled in New York around the common goal of creating a more just society, the NAACP's half million members continue to lead the way towards positive social change.

For striving and continuing to push our nation closer to the promise of equality envisioned in our Constitution, we must honor the NAACP.

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