Full Text of HR1184 100th General Assembly
HR1184 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Lewis | 4 | | Myers Jr., who passed away on May 24, 2018; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was born in Houston, Texas and | 6 | | graduated with honors from Phillis Wheatley High School in | 7 | | 1965; he was elected NAACP Youth Council President for the | 8 | | Houston branch and led student demonstrations that helped | 9 | | integrate the Houston Independent School District; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers studied at Tennessee State | 11 | | University, where he joined the Student Non-Violent | 12 | | Coordinating Committee (S.N.C.C.) Chapter; he also became | 13 | | chairman of the Students Rights Organization Chapter at | 14 | | Tennessee State; he transferred to Howard University, and in | 15 | | 1968, was elected president of the Undergraduate Student | 16 | | Council; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers entered law school at Rutgers | 18 | | University, where he initiated a program called the Southern | 19 | | Mobilization Committee, which gave African American law | 20 | | students the opportunity to work in the Deep South with civil | 21 | | rights firms during their summer breaks; he later transferred | 22 | | to the University of Mississippi, which allowed him to work in |
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| 1 | | rural Mississippi and expand his civil rights work; he earned | 2 | | his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1972; he | 3 | | was a student assistant to famed constitutional and civil | 4 | | rights lawyer Herbert Reid
who was the former Dean of the Law | 5 | | School at Howard University, as well as Chief Counsel to | 6 | | legendary
Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. from New York; | 7 | | and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, In 1971, Lewis Myers worked with what was then | 9 | | called the Goldberg
Commission in New York City; he served as | 10 | | an assistant on the staff and visited
many of the cities where | 11 | | the Black Panther Party had been involved in confrontations | 12 | | with the local police
departments; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers accepted a Reginald Heber Smith | 14 | | Fellowship, which enabled him to work with a civil rights legal | 15 | | services
program across the United States; he was selected to | 16 | | work in Mississippi, where he started working as a
staff | 17 | | attorney with North Mississippi Rural Legal Services in Oxford; | 18 | | initially, he handled school
desegregation cases; however, | 19 | | within a year of his graduation from law school, he filed suit | 20 | | on behalf of
African American law students at the University in | 21 | | the case of Robinson vs. University of Mississippi; the
lawsuit | 22 | | challenged the University's historic policies of racial | 23 | | discrimination and exclusion of African
Americans from | 24 | | admission to its law school and subsequently opened up the |
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| 1 | | admissions process which has allowed many African American | 2 | | students to complete their education since that time; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, After serving for several years at North | 4 | | Mississippi Rural Legal Services, Lewis Myers became Director | 5 | | of Litigation in charge of more than 45 lawyers and 40 | 6 | | paralegals; he was
responsible for managing seven legal service | 7 | | offices throughout cities in Northern Mississippi and the
| 8 | | Mississippi Delta; he initiated numerous lawsuits challenging | 9 | | racial discrimination in municipal governments and in private
| 10 | | employment practices in the State of Mississippi; in 1973, he | 11 | | was one of the lawyers that filed the
historic case of Ayers | 12 | | vs. Mississippi which ultimately led to the desegregation of | 13 | | institutions of higher
learning in the United States after | 14 | | reaching the United States Supreme Court; between 1974 and | 15 | | 1976,
he was on the cutting edge of filing more than six | 16 | | lawsuits against county jails in the State of Mississippi
for | 17 | | inhumane conditions and the treatment of their inmates; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was involved in numerous historic | 19 | | cases, including Ayers vs. Mississippi, the People of the State | 20 | | of Illinois vs. Larry Hoover, New
Jersey vs. Joanne Chesmard | 21 | | a/k/a Assata Shakur-mother of Tupac Shakur, the United States | 22 | | vs. Rene Leon, and the Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt case; he served | 23 | | as counsel for seven young boys who were expelled
from the | 24 | | Decatur public schools after a fight at a football game; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers served as general counsel for several | 2 | | national civil rights leaders, including Minister Louis
| 3 | | Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, and Rev. Al Sharpton; he | 4 | | served as
chief operating officer and the national deputy | 5 | | director of the NAACP in Baltimore; in August of 1993,
he | 6 | | served as national deputy coordinator of the historic 30th | 7 | | anniversary for the March on
Washington; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was one of the top litigation lawyers | 9 | | in the Chicago area; he taught Evidence and Trial Advocacy as
| 10 | | an adjunct professor at DePaul University's School of Law in | 11 | | Chicago; he taught at several Chicago City Colleges and served | 12 | | as director of the Criminal Justice Program at Kennedy King | 13 | | College; he
was also a professor teaching Criminal Justice at | 14 | | Chicago State University; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was a member of
the Illinois Bar, the | 16 | | Bar of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Bar of the | 17 | | Federal Appellate Court for
the Third Circuit, the Bar for the | 18 | | Federal Appellate Court for the Fifth Circuit, the Bar of the | 19 | | United States
Federal District Court for the Northern District | 20 | | of California, and the Bar for the Federal Court of Claims;
he | 21 | | was a member of the National
Conference of Black Lawyers, the | 22 | | National Lawyers' Guild (Executive Board, Chicago Chapter), | 23 | | the National
Bar Association, the National Association of |
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| 1 | | Criminal Defense Attorneys, and the National Conference of
| 2 | | Black Lawyers (Chairperson, Chicago Chapter); he held | 3 | | memberships with several professional
organizations, including | 4 | | Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the NAACP (Life Member), 500 Black | 5 | | Men (Founder of
Chicago Chapter), Black Men's Forum, and the | 6 | | American Historical Association; he was the recipient of many | 7 | | accolades and awards; he was listed in several
Who's Who | 8 | | publications and was recognized as one of the most influential | 9 | | African Americans in the United
States in various national | 10 | | publications; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers is survived by his wife, Celestine | 12 | | Narcisse-Myers, and his son, Lewis Myers III; therefore, be it
| 13 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 14 | | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 15 | | mourn the passing of Lewis Myers Jr., and extend our sincere | 16 | | condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved | 17 | | him; and be it further
| 18 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 19 | | presented to the family of Lewis Myers as an expression of our | 20 | | deepest sympathy.
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