Steve Cohen: “I am a life member of the NAACP. In my lifetime, in the city of Memphis, there have been all kinds of activists involved…”

“I am a life member of the NAACP. In my lifetime, in the city of Memphis, there have been all kinds of activists involved in civil rights work or in political work, and the people who have always stood out as the champions have been the members of the NAACP. They have been the people who have been involved in looking out for human rights, voting rights, and civil rights for people, regardless of their color, because it was the right thing to do and not because of any political advantage to themselves. For those particular individuals of which Maxine Vasco Smith, Russell Sugarman, A.W. Willis, Jesse Turner, and others have been leaders, I commend them and thank them for their efforts before me. This is the 100th anniversary of the NAACP. In the African American community, there are only two other organizations that are renowned and that have celebrated 100 years of existence. The others are the Alphas, a distinguished fraternity; Alpha Phi Alpha; and the AKA sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Each has celebrated its 100th anniversaries most recently. The NAACP today is headed up by Julian Bond, one of the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement.”