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1 | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 90
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2 | WHEREAS, The United States' history as a symbol of | ||||||
3 | democracy, freedom, and "home of exiles" is brandished around | ||||||
4 | the world; and | ||||||
5 | WHEREAS, The legacy of our Nation's African-descended | ||||||
6 | people and indigenous peoples has resounded as an echoing | ||||||
7 | dissonance in its "symphony of brotherhood" throughout its | ||||||
8 | history; and | ||||||
9 | WHEREAS, The legacy of African American struggles for | ||||||
10 | civil, political, and human rights is interwoven in the fabric | ||||||
11 | of democracy and freedom of the United States; and | ||||||
12 | WHEREAS, Millions of Africans and their descendants were | ||||||
13 | enslaved in the United States, from the original 13 North | ||||||
14 | American colonies until the abolition of slavery in 1865 with | ||||||
15 | the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to "slavery by another | ||||||
16 | name" under the twin regimes of racial economic and social | ||||||
17 | authoritarianism, called Jim Crow, and domestic terrorism; and | ||||||
18 | WHEREAS, The aggregate value of enslaved African Americans | ||||||
19 | at the time of Emancipation, measured in 2019 dollars, was more | ||||||
20 | than 13 trillion dollars, which is a meager percentage of the | ||||||
21 | unpaid wealth that they produced for the United States' |
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1 | slave-based economy; and | ||||||
2 | WHEREAS, The gendered racism of the United States' system | ||||||
3 | of slavery made the productive and reproductive intrinsic value | ||||||
4 | of enslaved African American women an incalculable source of | ||||||
5 | the United States' global economic power; and | ||||||
6 | WHEREAS, Africans forced into slavery, brutalized, | ||||||
7 | humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of | ||||||
8 | being stripped of their names and heritage makes the | ||||||
9 | reparations due to African Americans necessary but | ||||||
10 | insufficient as the United States' payment on the debt of | ||||||
11 | African American slavery, peonage, and expropriation of Black | ||||||
12 | asset wealth through fraudulent mortgages like Chicago's | ||||||
13 | notorious "contract buyers" schemes; and | ||||||
14 | WHEREAS, African American families were torn apart when | ||||||
15 | family members were sold off, endured further separation and | ||||||
16 | deprivation under Jim Crow, but sought freedom and economic | ||||||
17 | opportunities in the Great Migration from the South to northern | ||||||
18 | Midwest states like Illinois; and | ||||||
19 | WHEREAS, The system of hereditary racial slavery that | ||||||
20 | commenced not long after "the 1619 year of no return" provided | ||||||
21 | the foundation of the system of structural racism, inequality, | ||||||
22 | and white supremacy that became woven into the social fabric of |
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1 | the United States; and | ||||||
2 | WHEREAS, So embedded in the United States' social, | ||||||
3 | political, economic, religious, and cultural landscape was the | ||||||
4 | system of African American subjugation that it took the | ||||||
5 | apocalypse of the American Civil War to rid the Nation of its | ||||||
6 | "original sin"; and | ||||||
7 | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois assumes a special place in | ||||||
8 | the history and memorialization of "the 1619 day of no return" | ||||||
9 | because of the role that President Abraham Lincoln played as | ||||||
10 | Commander-in-Chief in defeating the armed revolt of the slave | ||||||
11 | power of the southern Confederacy against American democracy | ||||||
12 | and African American freedom; and | ||||||
13 | WHEREAS, It took the powerful working of the United States' | ||||||
14 | democratic electoral system, propelled by the movement of | ||||||
15 | African American slaves following the North Star to freedom in | ||||||
16 | solidarity with their White and free Black allies in the | ||||||
17 | abolitionist movement, to elect and re-elect Abraham Lincoln to | ||||||
18 | carry out the historic task of ridding the United States of | ||||||
19 | slavery; and | ||||||
20 | WHEREAS, The great challenge to our experiment in democracy | ||||||
21 | that we face today gives us further reason to memorialize the | ||||||
22 | Black struggle for freedom that recommitted the United States |
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1 | to its democratic ideals, adding the Civil War Amendments | ||||||
2 | (13th, 14th, and 15th) to the Constitution; and | ||||||
3 | WHEREAS, Illinois has never evinced the same care and | ||||||
4 | consideration for its Black exiles from Africa that it has for | ||||||
5 | its White exiles from Europe; and | ||||||
6 | WHEREAS, Every positive step that Illinois has taken toward | ||||||
7 | racial justice and equality has been reversed by backward | ||||||
8 | legislative steps that have made Black freedom struggles in | ||||||
9 | Illinois continuous to this day; and | ||||||
10 | WHEREAS, The 1908 Springfield Race Riot in the State's | ||||||
11 | capital and seat of the people's representatives was the | ||||||
12 | catalyst for the formation of the National Association for the | ||||||
13 | Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and | ||||||
14 | WHEREAS, The 1917 East St. Louis race riot demonstrated the | ||||||
15 | tangled history of race, class, and economics that victimized | ||||||
16 | African Americans who were newly arrived to Illinois from the | ||||||
17 | South; and | ||||||
18 | WHEREAS, Springfield and East St. Louis also reflected a | ||||||
19 | new Black assertiveness, a "New Negro", that culminated in the | ||||||
20 | "Red Summer of 1919" Chicago Race Riot, whose 100th anniversary | ||||||
21 | is also memorialized with this resolution; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, The history of Illinois' modern system of racial | ||||||
2 | segregation, heroically countered by the democratic struggles | ||||||
3 | of the State's African American communities, calls upon all | ||||||
4 | Illinois legislators to prioritize the State's legislative | ||||||
5 | agenda around policies and realistic funding appropriations | ||||||
6 | aimed at addressing the interminable legacy of racial | ||||||
7 | inequities in African American education, housing, labor | ||||||
8 | market outcomes, transportation marginalization, business | ||||||
9 | inequalities, healthcare disparities, and political | ||||||
10 | decision-making disempowerment; and | ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois also boasts numerous racial | ||||||
12 | justice moments throughout its 20th century political history | ||||||
13 | that have impacted both the State's and the United States' | ||||||
14 | history, including the election of Abraham Lincoln, the | ||||||
15 | election of Harold Washington as the first Black Mayor of the | ||||||
16 | City of Chicago, the election of Barack Obama as the first | ||||||
17 | Black President of the United States, the election of Illinois' | ||||||
18 | first Black Woman Lieutenant Governor, the election of the | ||||||
19 | first Black Woman State Representative of Illinois' 103rd | ||||||
20 | District, representing the University of Illinois | ||||||
21 | Urbana-Champaign, the appointment of the first Black | ||||||
22 | Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and | ||||||
23 | the election in Chicago of the first Black LGBTQ Mayor of any | ||||||
24 | major city in the United States; therefore, be it |
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1 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
2 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | ||||||
3 | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we solemnly observe the 1619 | ||||||
4 | African Year of No Return by observing the Illinois recognition | ||||||
5 | of the 2019 Year of Return Project resolution; and be it | ||||||
6 | further | ||||||
7 | RESOLVED, That we urge recognition of Illinois' vibrant | ||||||
8 | history of African American political
struggles for democracy | ||||||
9 | and freedom that have widened the scope and deepened the | ||||||
10 | State's and
the United States' commitment to democracy and | ||||||
11 | racial justice; and be it further | ||||||
12 | RESOLVED, That we urge adequate appropriations for | ||||||
13 | investigations, research, publication, and a
website to | ||||||
14 | represent Illinois' Black contributions to widening and | ||||||
15 | deepening the State's and the United States'
commitment to | ||||||
16 | racial justice in memorializing the 1619-2019 Year of Return; | ||||||
17 | and be it further | ||||||
18 | RESOLVED, That we urge adequate appropriations for the | ||||||
19 | development of a comprehensive
legislative agenda of policies | ||||||
20 | and racial justice legislation to engage the State's African | ||||||
21 | American
communities in an urgent discussion of their vital | ||||||
22 | issues and challenges to memorialize the 1619-2019
Year of |
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1 | Return.
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