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Honoring and Praising the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on the Occasion of its 97th Anniversary

Date: March 1, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Judicial Branch


HONORING AND PRAISING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 97TH ANNIVERSARY -- (Extensions of Remarks - March 02, 2006)
SPEECH OF HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL OF NEW YORK IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2006

* Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor an organization that has been more than a guiding force but, in fact, a leader in advancing civil rights for nearly a century. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People continues its mission to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights for all people. As the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the nation, the men and women working for the NAACP have sought to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through their use of legal and moral persuasion.

* The NAACP won one of the nation's greatest legal victories; that was the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. The NAACP was also a prominent power that lobbied for the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act were also achievements of this longstanding organization. In 2005, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help Hurricane Katrina survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Alabama rebuild their lives.

* The NAACP was built and grew from the collective courage of thousands of people and continues to inspire the high standard of full equality to ever younger generations. As grandfather of all civil rights organizations, it has been persistent in its commitment to nonviolence, even in the face of overt and violent racial hostility. Today, on the 9th anniversary of the NAACP, it is important to celebrate how these men and women advanced their mission through reliance upon the press, the petition, the ballot, and the courts. Their premise has been that people of all races, nationalities and faiths, men and women, are created equal. All Americans must continue to uphold these standards of morality and justice.

* I congratulate the NAACP and look forward to celebrating their centennial in 3 years.

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