[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 17 Introduced in House (IH)]
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115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 17
Honoring and praising the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People on the occasion of its 108th anniversary.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 1, 2017
Mr. Al Green of Texas (for himself, Ms. Adams, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Beatty,
Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Mr.
Butterfield, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Clay,
Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Danny K. Davis
of Illinois, Mrs. Demings, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Evans, Ms. Fudge, Mr.
Hastings, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of
Texas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mrs. Lawrence,
Mr. Lawson of Florida, Ms. Lee, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. McEachin, Mr.
Meeks, Ms. Moore, Ms. Norton, Mr. Payne, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Richmond,
Mr. Rush, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms. Sewell
of Alabama, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Maxine Waters
of California, Mrs. Watson Coleman, and Ms. Wilson of Florida)
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Honoring and praising the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People on the occasion of its 108th anniversary.
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 met in a national
conference to discuss the civil and political rights of African-
Americans;
Whereas the multiracial founders of the NAACP were a distinguished group of
leaders in the struggle for human rights, including Ida Wells-Barnett,
W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison
Villard, and William English Walling;
Whereas the NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the
United States;
Whereas the NAACP National Headquarters is located in Baltimore, Maryland;
Whereas the mission of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational,
social, and economic 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 peaceful protest,
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
minorities in the United States;
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 decision in Brown v.
Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954);
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, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Fannie
Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Cesar E. Chavez, Barbara C.
Jordan, William C. Velasquez, and Dr. Hector P. Garcia Voting Rights Act
Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, and the Fair Housing Act,
laws that ensured Government protection for legal victories achieved;
Whereas in 2005, the NAACP launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help hurricane
survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Alabama to
rebuild their lives;
Whereas in the 110th Congress, the NAACP was prominent in lobbying for the
passage of H. Res. 826, whose resolved clause expresses that the hanging
of nooses is a horrible act when used for the purpose of intimidation
and which under certain circumstances can be criminal, this conduct
should be investigated thoroughly by Federal authorities, and any
criminal violations should be vigorously prosecuted;
Whereas in 2008, the NAACP vigorously supported the passage of the Emmett Till
Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007, a law that puts additional
Federal resources into solving the heinous crimes that occurred in the
early days of the civil rights struggle that remain unsolved and
bringing those who perpetrated such crimes to justice;
Whereas the NAACP has helped usher in the new millennium by charting a bold
course, beginning with the appointment of the organization's youngest
President and Chief Executive Officer, Benjamin Todd Jealous, and its
youngest female Board Chair, Roslyn M. Brock;
Whereas under their leadership, the NAACP has outlined a strategic plan to
confront 21st century challenges in the critical areas of health,
education, housing, criminal justice, and environment;
Whereas, on July 16, 2009, the NAACP celebrated its centennial anniversary in
New York City, highlighting an extraordinary century of Bold Dreams, Big
Victories with a historic address from the first African-American
President of the United States, Barack Obama;
Whereas, as an advocate for sentencing reform, the NAACP applauded the passage
of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-220; 124 Stat. 2372),
a landmark piece of legislation that reduces the quantity of crack
cocaine that triggers a mandatory minimum sentence for a Federal
conviction of crack cocaine distribution from 100 times that of people
convicted of distributing the drug in powdered form to 18 times that
sentence;
Whereas in 2011, the NAACP led the charge to defend the constitutional right to
vote and to protect that right for all citizens of the United States,
whether they be seniors, young voters, the poor, or from minority
communities;
Whereas in 2013, the NAACP signed a historic Memorandum of Agreement with the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to put mechanisms in place to
ensure that the needs of underrepresented communities are more fully
integrated into future plans for disaster preparedness;
Whereas in 2014, the NAACP was a leader in the effort to strengthen the Voting
Rights Act and protect the principle of ``one person, one vote'';
Whereas in 2014, the NAACP released its groundbreaking report ``Born Suspect''
on racial profiling by law enforcement in the United States, which
highlighted the problem of racial profiling experienced by individuals
of color and communities of color; and
Whereas in 2016, the NAACP led the charge in raising awareness about and
challenging voter suppression laws in Federal court across the Nation:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That--
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ``Original NAACP Resolution of
2017''.
SEC. 2. HONORING AND PRAISING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE.
Congress--
(1) recognizes the 108th 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 on the occasion of its
anniversary for its work to ensure the political, educational,
social, and economic rights of all persons.
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