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SENATE RESOLUTION

  
 
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    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to 
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learn of the passing of the former village president of 
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Maywood, Ralph Conner, who passed away on March 13, 2010; and
  
 
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    WHEREAS, He was born on April 20, 1948 in Maywood; he and 
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his wife, Arletha, met as community activists in 1971 and 
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married in 1974; and
  
 
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    WHEREAS, As a college student during the Martin Luther King 
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riots and Democratic Convention riots in Chicago, Ralph Conner 
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was directly engaged in movement activity; he became a 
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Pan-Africanist relocating to Atlanta, Georgia and working with 
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the Atlanta Urban League under the Nixon Black Capitalism 
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programs designed to spur entrepreneurship among 
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African-Americans; during his time in Atlanta he was exposed to 
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the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE); and
 
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    WHEREAS, He became involved with the Small Business 
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Administration and studied the rudiments of financing and 
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recordkeeping for profit; he later relocated back to Chicago to 
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re-enroll in Roosevelt University to study accounting, 
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business administration, marketing and advertising, and real 
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estate development; and
 
 


 






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    WHEREAS, Mr. Conner was a popular spokesman for taxpayers, 
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government reform, school choice, gun rights, and other issues; 
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he often appeared as a pundit on Comcast, WTTW, and Bruce 
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DuMont's nationally syndicated "Beyond the Beltway" radio 
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program; and
  
 
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    WHEREAS, In 2008, Mr. Conner launched the Chicago office of 
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the Congress of Racial Equality; in 2009, he appeared in "No 
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Guns for Negroes," a documentary film on the Second Amendment; 
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he was working on a film on black World War II veterans when he 
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died; and
  
 
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    WHEREAS, During his twenty years of public service, he 
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served as Maywood village president, director of planning and 
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development/building commissioner, and enterprise zone 
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administrator; he ran for village president of the Village of 
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Maywood in 2000, capturing the office in April of 2001; in 2005 
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he took the position of local government relations manager for 
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the Heartland Institute; and
  
 
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    WHEREAS, Mr. Conner also worked with the U.S. Conference of 
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Mayors and the Illinois Terrorism Task Force and was a 
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certified Illinois assessing official; and
 
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    WHEREAS, Ralph Conner is survived by his wife, Arletha 
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Conner; his daughters, Isis Aida Ogoun Conner and Zenzi Dara 
 


 






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Dayo Conner; his sons, Ralph W. Conner Jr. and Thomas Leon 
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Conner; therefore, be it
  
 
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    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL 
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ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with 
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his family and friends, the passing of Ralph Conner; and be it 
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further
  
 
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    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
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presented to the family of Ralph Conner as a symbol of our 
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sincere sympathy.