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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Danny Glover, a native of San Francisco, was born
3 on July 22, 1947, and attended San Francisco State University
4 receiving his dramatic training at the American Conservatory
5 Theatre's Black Actors' Workshop; and
 
6     WHEREAS, He is an internationally known, award-winning
7 actor, producer, and director, best known for his many works in
8 film, theater, and television, including the "Lethal Weapon"
9 series, "Places in the Heart", and "The Color Purple"; he also
10 directed the cable television movie "Buffalo Soldiers",
11 directed and starred in "Mandela", and produced and acted in
12 the award-winning "To Sleep with Anger"; and
 
13     WHEREAS, He is set apart from many of his peers by a
14 remarkable lifetime of accomplishment as an advocate for social
15 causes, ranging from literacy for troubled youth to
16 international justice, utilizing both his celebrity and
17 passion for human rights to impact both social and political
18 change; and
 
19     WHEREAS, Danny Glover, a self-described child of the Civil
20 Rights Movement, was raised by active Union organizers who
21 shaped his consciousness with discussion of empowerment, and
22 spent his teens and twenties in the crucible of activism that
23 was San Francisco, Haight-Ashbury, and Oakland in the late
24 1960s and 1970s; and
 
25     WHEREAS, While a student at San Francisco State University,
26 he joined the Black Student's Union, worked in the Black
27 Panther's free-breakfast-for-children program, embraced the
28 anti-Vietnam War movement and global liberation struggles in
29 Africa, and became inspired to include the performing arts in
30 his activities; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, While pursuing a career in government service and
2 acting on the side, he became greatly inspired by the work of
3 South African playwright, Athol Fugard, after which he moved to
4 New York to pursue a stage career, making his successful
5 off-Broadway debut in "Master Harold and the Boys"; and
 
6     WHEREAS, As a recipient of multiple NAACP Image Awards and
7 the Amnesty International USA Lifetime Achievement Award,
8 Danny Glover has continued to dedicate time and energy to
9 social activism; he serves as Goodwill Ambassador to the United
10 Nation's Development Program, as Board Chairman of the
11 TransAfrica Forum, which played a crucial role in promoting
12 sanctions to protest Apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s,
13 and today lobbies on behalf of African and Caribbean countries
14 addressing the problems of HIV/AIDS, debt relief, and
15 reparations; and
 
16     WHEREAS, He has most recently traveled to Venezuela to
17 study the successful social programs of Hugo Chavez, to address
18 the near half million protestors of the Republican National
19 Convention in New York, and was arrested in front of the
20 Sudanese Embassy in Washington D.C. for protesting the genocide
21 in Darfur; and
 
22     WHEREAS, Danny Glover has proven his tireless commitment to
23 human rights and epitomizes the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther
24 King, Jr., standing as an example to young and old alike who
25 believe that equity and equality are still beyond the grasp of
26 too many in our world; therefore, be it
 
27     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
28 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
29 we recognize and honor Danny Glover for his contributions to
30 society, thank him for his efforts on behalf of the persecuted,
31 forgotten, and oppressed and wish him many more years of health
32 and success in his role as a leader among men.