Voter ID law latest challenge for NAACP

The Rev. Reginald Lillie, Houston branch president, opens the 103rd NAACP convention at the Hilton Hotel in Houston. The Rev. Reginald Lillie, Houston branch president, opens the 103rd NAACP convention at the Hilton Hotel in Houston. Photo: Cody Duty Photo: Cody Duty Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Voter ID law latest challenge for NAACP 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

As the 103rd NAACP annual convention begins in Houston this week, leaders say the organization remains focused on its core mission of ensuring all citizens have the right to vote - a battle built on lawsuits with histories in Harris County and set to be waged once more in federal court next week.

At an opening news conference on Friday, U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, explained the city's significance as the birthplace of litigation that helped lay the foundation for the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case and other landmark civil rights legal victories.

"Before there was Brown, there was Smith v. Allwright," said Green, a former president of the Houston NAACP chapter, referring to the 1944 U.S. Supreme Court case. "Lonnie Smith had to sue because there were white primaries and he was a black man and he could not vote … right here in Harris County.

"So it's appropriate that the NAACP come back here this year when we are fighting voter suppression," Green declared, noting that "the fight … had its genesis right here in Harris County, Texas."

NAACP also was instrumental in the case of Sweatt v. Painter, another snapshot in Houston history, which lead to the desegregation of the University of Texas law school and the creation of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.

As the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization convenes, Texas officials on Monday will defend the state's voter ID law in federal court, arguing that it will help curtail voter fraud. The NAACP contends the law will disenfranchise people of color and the poor. The Justice Department, led by Attorney General Eric Holder (a convention speaker on Tuesday), determined that the Texas law and other such measures violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

"We're not here in a partisan fashion," said Leon Russell, vice chairman of the NAACP national board of directors. "We are here to declare that our program will ensure, in its civic engagement process, that every American is ultimately granted access and the opportunity to vote without suppression, in a timely fashion; that early voting will be available, that the hours of voting will be open and that people will be able to register to vote when they go the day of the election."

The theme of the convention, which officially runs Saturday through Thursday, is "Your Power, Your Decision - Vote!" The NAACP's strategic plan focuses on five areas of inequality that African-Americans face: economic sustainability, education, health, public safety and criminal justice, as well as voting rights and political representation.

Leaders expressed dismay that President Barack Obama will not be addressing the meeting.

More Information 103rd NAACP Convention Schedule (Selected events) Saturday: Commerce and Industry Show, Author Pavilion, Health Fair, Retail Expo and ACT-SO Science and Visual Arts exhibition, George R. Brown Convention Center Sunday: Opening Public Mass Meeting, 6 p.m., Hall B3, George R. Brown Convention Center - Address by Roslyn Brock, Chairman of the NAACP national board of directors Monday: First Plenary Session, 9:30 a.m. Hall B3 - Address by Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP President and CEO Tuesday: National Membership Luncheon - Address by Julian Bond, NAACP Board Chairman Emeritus; Attorney General Eric Holder addresses lawyers as part of the continuing legal education program Wednesday: Address by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney; 7 p.m. Gospel Extravaganza featuring Yolanda Adams Thursday: Address by Vice President Joe Biden; Closing dinner featuring Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis from "The Help"

"We're always disappointed when the president of the United States can't come to our convention. We fully anticipated that he would be here," Russell said, adding that he is "delighted" that Vice President Joe Biden will speak Thursday and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will appear Wednesday.

The NAACP board's vote this spring in support of gay marriage shows a "common agenda" with La Raza, lesbian and gay rights groups and others, Russell said, "because we do believe that equal protection of the law extends to all people."

On Friday, 1,200 students competed in the Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics - a cultural and academic competition better known as ACT-SO - while the Youth and College Divisions held a leadership summit.

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