HR1333 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1333 LRB095 21497 GRL 51151 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to honor one of the most notable figures of our time, the Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr.; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. was born in Greenville, South Carolina on October 8, 1941; the son of an Alabama sharecropper, he adopted his stepfather's last name; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. was a good enough athlete in high school to be offered a contract by the Chicago White Sox, but he turned it down due to discrepancies in pay between white and black players; he also turned down an athletic scholarship at the University of Illinois when he was told that, as a black, he could not expect to play as quarterback; instead, he attended the mostly black Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina in Greensboro, North Carolina; in addition to being an outstanding athlete, student, and campus leader, he took a lead in protests that forced Greensboro to integrate its restaurants and theaters; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. then trained for the ministry at the Chicago Theological Seminary; having joined the protest movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), he was named head of the Chicago branch of Operation Breadbasket, the SCLC's program to persuade American businesses to hire blacks and to get companies to sell products made by blacks, in 1965; he became Operation Breadbasket's national head in 1967, proving highly successful in this position for several years; he also helped create the Chicago Freedom Movement (1966) to press for integrated schools and open housing; Jackson was beside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he was assassinated in 1968; after Dr. King's assassination, Jackson was viewed by some as the potential successor to King as the leader in the struggle for civil rights; and

WHEREAS, After he was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1968, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. concentrated his fight for rights in the City of Chicago; after leaving Operation Breadbasket in 1971, he founded his own organization, PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), which would continue the fight to improve the lives of African-Americans in a variety of fronts; and

WHEREAS, Becoming increasingly more active on the political scene, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. led a group that successfully challenged Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's slate of delegates at the Democratic National Convention in 1972; backed by another of his organizations, the Rainbow Coalition, he ran in the 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential primaries, gaining enough votes to ensure an important presence at the conventions; as a primary candidate, he constantly won favor with surprising constituencies as he inserted himself into a variety of events, including rushing off to Syria to gain the freedom of an American pilot and joining picket lines at numerous labor actions; his son, Jesse Jackson Jr., has also emerged as a political figure, becoming a member of the House of Representatives from the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, After a brief hiatus from political advocacy, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. reemerged on the political scene in 2004 following voting problems plaguing the presidential election; in a bid for justice, he called for a congressional debate on the matter, asking for a fair count of the country's votes and nationwide voting standards; and

WHEREAS, Even today, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. continues to be named whenever there is a need for a new African-American leader, whether it be a mayor of Chicago or the first senator of Washington, D.C. if it became a state; he is undoubtedly well known as one of the more striking figures in American public life in the late 20th century and has remained a commanding presence in the 21st century; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we designate October 8, 2008 and every October 8 thereafter as Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. Day in the State of Illinois in honor of this visionary civil rights leader; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. as a symbol of our esteem and respect.