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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are deeply sorry to learn of the death of Jay
4A. Miller of Evanston; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Jay Miller served as the Executive Director of the
6American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois for more than
725 years; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Jay Miller worked as a journalist in Cleveland and
9a union organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
10America before moving to Chicago to join the Midwest office of
11the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC); and
 
12    WHEREAS, Jay Miller led a campaign for the AFSC aimed at
13securing ratification of a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and helped
14to organize a rally for the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King,
15Jr. at Chicago's Soldier Field; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Jay Miller became the executive director of the
17ACLU of Illinois in 1965, when the organization had a staff of
18four and budget of less than $50,000, and soon led the
19organization to new and innovative cases, including
20desegregation of the Waukegan Public Schools, challenges to
21racial segregation in public housing, and defending the rights

 

 

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1of protestors at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in
2Chicago; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Jay Miller took a prominent role in challenging
4the police accounts of the shooting of Black Panther Fred
5Hampton, leading to the revelation of the true facts of that
6problem; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Jay Miller became a prominent voice for civil
8liberties in the State, traveled to every corner of the State
9to meet with ACLU members and others, and became a regular
10voice defending civil liberties in the media across Illinois,
11often invoking his own colorful rhetoric; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Jay Miller's vision and managerial skills,
13combined with his fierce passion for civil liberties, built the
14modern ACLU of Illinois, providing resources for the
15organization to take on early cases protecting the rights of
16persons with AIDS and HIV, ensuring fundamental rights for
17lesbians and gay men, worked to reform a decrepit and dangerous
18child welfare system and the Illinois Department of Mental
19Health, and challenged racial profiling and other racial
20discrimination across the State of Illinois; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Jay Miller is survived by his wife, Lou Kaplan;
22and his children: Josh Miller, Adam Miller; and Rebecca Miller;

 

 

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1therefore, be it
 
2    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
3NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
4we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Jay
5Miller; and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7presented to the family of Jay Miller and to the American Civil
8Liberties Union of Illinois as a symbol of our sincere
9sympathy.