Full Text of HR1423 99th General Assembly
HR1423 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to congratulate Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, | 4 | | Sr. on the occasion of his 75th birthday on October 8, 2016; | 5 | | and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. was born on October 8, | 7 | | 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina; he graduated from public | 8 | | schools in Greenville and then enrolled at the University of | 9 | | Illinois on a football scholarship; he later transferred to | 10 | | North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University | 11 | | graduating in 1964; he began his theological studies at Chicago | 12 | | Theological Seminary but deferred his studies when he began | 13 | | working full-time in the civil rights movement with Dr. Martin | 14 | | Luther King, Jr.; he was ordained on June 30, 1968 and received | 15 | | his earned Master of Divinity degree from the Chicago | 16 | | Theological Seminary in 2000; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. began his activism as a | 18 | | student in the summer of 1960 when he sought to desegregate the | 19 | | local public library in Greenville and served as a leader in | 20 | | the sit-in movement; in 1965, he became a full-time organizer | 21 | | for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; he was soon | 22 | | appointed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to direct the | 23 | | Operation Breadbasket program; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, In December 1971, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. founded | 2 | | Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) in Chicago | 3 | | with the goals of economic empowerment and expanding | 4 | | educational, business, and employment opportunities for the | 5 | | disadvantaged and people of color; in 1984, he founded the | 6 | | National Rainbow Coalition, a social justice organization | 7 | | based in Washington, D.C. that is devoted to political | 8 | | empowerment, education, and changing public policy; in | 9 | | September 1996, the Rainbow Coalition and Operation PUSH merged | 10 | | to form the Rainbow PUSH Coalition to continue the work of both | 11 | | organizations; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.'s presidential campaigns | 13 | | in 1984 and 1988 broke new ground in United States politics; | 14 | | his 1984 campaign registered over one million new voters, won | 15 | | 3.5 million votes, and helped the Democratic Party regain | 16 | | control of the Senate in 1986; his 1988 campaign registered | 17 | | over two million new voters, won seven million votes, and | 18 | | helped boost hundreds of state and local elected officials into | 19 | | office; he also won historic victories, coming in first or | 20 | | second in 46 of 54 primary contests; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, On November 2, 1985, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. | 22 | | joined with Oliver Tambo, Bishop Trevor Huddleston, Ken | 23 | | Livingston, Bernie Grant, Keith Vaz, Paul Boateng, future |
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| 1 | | member of parliament Diane Abbot, and others at the | 2 | | 120,000-strong demonstration in London's Trafalgar Square to | 3 | | protest apartheid in South Africa and call upon the South | 4 | | African government to free Nelson Mandela; he later met with | 5 | | Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, appealing to her to end | 6 | | Britain's support for apartheid; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, In 1991, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. was elected to | 8 | | serve as Senator of Washington, D.C., where he advocated for | 9 | | statehood for the nation's capital and advanced the "rainbow" | 10 | | agenda at the national and international levels; since then, he | 11 | | has continued to promote voter registration and lead | 12 | | get-out-the-vote campaigns, believing that everyone should be | 13 | | encouraged to be a responsible, informed, and active voter; he | 14 | | has also spearheaded major organizing tours through | 15 | | Appalachia, Mississippi, California, and Georgia; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, In October 1997, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. was | 17 | | appointed by President Bill Clinton and then-Secretary of State | 18 | | Madeleine Albright, as "Special Envoy of the President and | 19 | | Secretary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa"; | 20 | | in this capacity, he traveled to several countries in Africa | 21 | | and met with national leaders such as President Nelson Mandela | 22 | | of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Daniel T. Arap | 23 | | Moi of Kenya, and President Frederick J.T. Chiluba of Zambia; | 24 | | and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, On February 16, 2003, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. was | 2 | | the keynote speaker at a rally held in London's Hyde Park with | 3 | | over one million people protesting the expected invasion of | 4 | | Iraq by the United States; in August 2007, Equanomics UK | 5 | | invited him to help launch the new organization in a historic | 6 | | nine-city United Kingdom tour; the tour coincided with the | 7 | | 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act in | 8 | | Britain, including the official Greater London Authority | 9 | | ceremony with Mayor Ken Livingston; at the conclusion of the | 10 | | tour, he joined international dignitaries at the unveiling of a | 11 | | statue of Nelson Mandela in London's Parliament Square; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, In January 2008, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. delivered | 13 | | the international keynote address on the life and philosophy of | 14 | | Mahatma Gandhi at an event in New Delhi, India marking the 50th | 15 | | anniversary of Gandhi's martyrdom; the global event celebrated | 16 | | the strength of non-violent, peaceful protest that Gandhi | 17 | | demonstrated in his uncompromising quest for peace and justice; | 18 | | and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Due to his status as a highly respected and | 20 | | trusted world leader, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. has acted as an | 21 | | international diplomat in many sensitive situations; in 1984, | 22 | | he secured the release of captured Navy Lieutenant Robert | 23 | | Goodman from Syria and the release of 48 Cuban and |
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| 1 | | Cuban-American prisoners from Cuba; he was the first American | 2 | | to bring home citizens of the United Kingdom, France, and other | 3 | | countries who were held as "human shields" by Saddam Hussein in | 4 | | Kuwait and Iraq in 1990; in 1999, he negotiated the release of | 5 | | United States soldiers held hostage in Kosovo; in August 2000, | 6 | | he helped negotiate the release of four journalists working on | 7 | | a documentary for Britain's BBC 4 network who were held in | 8 | | Liberia; he has traveled extensively in the Middle East and | 9 | | Asia and was a special guest of President Fernando Cardoso of | 10 | | Brazil in honoring Zumbi, the leader of slave revolts that led | 11 | | to the end of slavery in Brazil; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. has been a consistent and | 13 | | vigorous supporter of the labor movement in the United States | 14 | | and around the world and has walked more picket lines and | 15 | | spoken at more labor rallies than any other national leader; he | 16 | | has worked with unions to organize workers, protect workers' | 17 | | rights, and mediate labor disputes; in 1996, he traveled to | 18 | | Asia to investigate treatment of workers in the Japanese | 19 | | automobile industry and in athletic apparel factories in | 20 | | Indonesia; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. frequently lectures at | 22 | | major colleges and universities, including Howard University, | 23 | | Yale University, Princeton University, Morehouse College, | 24 | | Harvard University, Columbia University, Stanford University, |
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| 1 | | and Hampton University; he continues to be a leading advocate | 2 | | for a variety of public policy issues, including universal | 3 | | health care, equal administration of justice in all | 4 | | communities, sufficient funding for enforcement of civil | 5 | | rights laws, and for increased attention to business investment | 6 | | in under-served domestic communities, a theme that the Clinton | 7 | | administration incorporated in the "New Markets Initiative"; | 8 | | he also supports a broad range of policies to improve | 9 | | education, eliminate poverty, and remind everyone that we are a | 10 | | "One-Big-Tent-America", with room for all and with no one left | 11 | | in the margins; he spearheads the campaign of "Restructure | 12 | | Loans, Don't Foreclose on Homes", which tackles the housing and | 13 | | economic crises gripping the world; he has also visited | 14 | | thousands of high schools, colleges, universities, and | 15 | | correctional facilities encouraging excellence, inspiring | 16 | | hope, and challenging young people to study diligently and stay | 17 | | drug-free; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. has received more than 40 | 19 | | honorary doctorate degrees and countless awards and honors for | 20 | | his work in human and civil rights and non-violent social | 21 | | change; in 1991, the United States Postal Service put his | 22 | | likeness on a pictorial postal cancellation, only the second | 23 | | living person to receive such an honor; he has been on the | 24 | | Gallup List of the Ten Most Respected Americans for many years; | 25 | | he has received the prestigious NAACP Spingarn Award in |
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| 1 | | addition to honors from hundreds of grassroots, civic, and | 2 | | community organizations from coast to coast; he was made an | 3 | | Honorary Fellow of Regents Park College at Oxford University in | 4 | | the United Kingdom in November 2007; he received an Honorary | 5 | | Fellowship from Edge Hill University in Liverpool, England; he | 6 | | was inducted into the prestigious Cambridge Union Society in | 7 | | March 2010; he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the | 8 | | University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa in April 2010; on | 9 | | August 9, 2000, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of | 10 | | Freedom, our nation's highest civilian honor, by President Bill | 11 | | Clinton for his work; in 2009, he received the "Global | 12 | | Diversity and Inclusion Award" by British Prime Minister Gordon | 13 | | Brown; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, From 1992 to 2000, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. hosted | 15 | | "Both Sides with Jesse Jackson" on CNN; he continues to write a | 16 | | weekly column of analysis syndicated by the Chicago Tribune/Los | 17 | | Angeles Times; he is the author of "Keep Hope Alive" (1989), | 18 | | and "Straight From the Heart" (1987); with his son, Jesse L. | 19 | | Jackson, Jr., he co-authored the books "Legal Lynching: Racism, | 20 | | Injustice, and the Death Penalty" (1996) and "It's About The | 21 | | Money" (1999); and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. married his college | 23 | | sweetheart Jacqueline Lavinia Brown in 1963; they have five | 24 | | children, Santita Jackson, Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Jonathan |
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| 1 | | Luther Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Esq., and Jacqueline | 2 | | Lavinia Jackson, Jr.; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. will celebrate his 75th | 4 | | birthday at an event in his honor on October 8, 2016 at the | 5 | | Rainbow PUSH Coalition's National Headquarters in Chicago; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Over the past 40 years, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. | 7 | | has played a pivotal role in virtually every movement for | 8 | | empowerment, peace, civil rights, gender equality, and | 9 | | economic and social justice; his status as the "Conscience of | 10 | | the Nation" and "the Great Unifier" and his ability to bring | 11 | | people together on common ground across lines of race, culture, | 12 | | class, gender, and belief is worthy of the greatest respect; | 13 | | therefore, be it
| 14 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 15 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 16 | | congratulate Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. on the occasion of | 17 | | his 75th birthday and wish him great success and happiness in | 18 | | his future endeavors; and be it further
| 19 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 20 | | presented to Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. as a symbol of our esteem | 21 | | and respect.
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