Honoring And Praising The NAACP On The Occasion Of Its 98th Anniversary

Floor Speech

HONORING AND PRAISING THE NAACP ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 98TH ANNIVERSARY -- (House of Representatives - February 12, 2007)

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, thanks to the subcommittee chairman, Congressman HOWARD BERMAN. I thank you much for the many things that you have done.

Mr. Speaker, I also think it appropriate to thank today chairman JOHN CONYERS of the Judiciary Committee for assisting in this and causing this piece of legislation to move forward quickly. I thank Senator HILLARY CLINTON and the more than 20 cosponsors in the United States Senate.

My understanding is that companion legislation will be filed there today. We would like to thank the 117 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, all of whom believe that this legislation is exceedingly important. And, of course, I would like to thank last year's cosponsor with me, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Congressman JAMES SENSENBRENNER.

Mr. Speaker, there are many organizations that have endorsed this legislation: the American Jewish Committee; the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League; LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens; and NCLR, the National Council of La Raza.

Today, H. Con. Res. 44 honors the NAACP for 98 years of service to America. Mr. Speaker, that is 98 years of upholding the constitutional notion of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. That is 98 years of standing on the Declaration of Independence and the premise that all persons are created equal; 98 years, Mr. Speaker, of saluting the proposition in the Pledge of Allegiance that we are indeed one Nation, with liberty and justice for all.

I thank God, Mr. Speaker, for the NAACP and those brave souls who assembled 98 years ago today on February 12, 1909, a group of people who met to fight for the rights of black people. They were an integrated group, both black and white, who believed in the Constitution of the United States of America.

And while we must remember that the NAACP was founded to make democracy work for black people, we shouldn't forget that it was Mary White Ovington, a white woman, who is said to have hosted the founders meeting. And we shouldn't forget that she did this in response to William English Walling, a white man who wrote an article asking citizens to rally in support of African Americans.

We don't forget in the NAACP, and we should never forget, the fact that this organization has never been a black-only organization. So, today, I salute the NAACP-ers, current and those who have gone on for their great work in this great country. I want to salute them by remembering those who are black, but I also pledge that we will never forget those who are white.

So as we remember Dr. Louis T. Wright, who in 1935 became the first black NAACP board Chair, we should not forget Oswald Garrison Villard, the white man who in 1911 became the very first Chair of the board of the NAACP. You see, there were two white NAACP board Chairs, Oswald Villard and Joel Spingarn, before we had a black NAACP board Chair.

And I believe we should remember James Weldon Johnson. He was the first black executive secretary and director of the NAACP. However, we should never forget Francis Blascon and Mary White Ovington, along with Mary Nurney and Royall Nash, all of whom were white and served before James Weldon Johnson.

Let us remember the brilliant lawyer and Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall. However, we should not forget Arthur Spingarn, the white NAACP-er who donated large sums of money and raised even more money for the NAACP Legal Redress Committee. While Thurgood Marshall was a great litigator, and he was, we should never forget that the Spingarns were great donators and made it possible for a lot of the litigation to take place.

I will remember and I beg that we all remember Medgar Evers, the black NAACP field representative who was assassinated in his front yard in 1963. However, we shouldn't forget John R. Shillady, the white NAACP executive secretary, because he was beaten by a mob in Austin, Texas, and he never recovered.

Through the efforts of a multiracial, religiously diverse and ethnically inclusive group, the NAACP has made great contributions to our society: the passage of the Voting Rights Act; the passage of the Civil Rights Act; the Fair Housing Act of 1968; filed and won many lawsuits, including Brown v. Board of Education; Shelley v. Kraemer; and recently contributed millions of dollars to assist the Hurricane Katrina victims.

So today we can literally say we eat where we eat, we live where we live and we sleep where we sleep in part due to the NAACP, and we are grateful that they have been there for us.

Mr. Speaker, I beg that all of my colleagues will support this resolution.

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