Full Text of SR1839 100th General Assembly
SR1839 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of Lewis Myers Jr., who passed away on May | 4 | | 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, where he was recognized in Who's Who Among Students in | 8 | | American High Schools; he was elected NAACP Youth Council | 9 | | President for the Houston branch and led student demonstrations | 10 | | that helped integrate the Houston Independent School District; | 11 | | and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers studied at Tennessee State | 13 | | University, where he joined the Student Non-Violent | 14 | | Coordinating Committee (S.N.C.C.) Chapter; he also became | 15 | | chairman of the Students Rights Organization Chapter at | 16 | | Tennessee State; he transferred to Howard University, and in | 17 | | 1968, was elected president of the Undergraduate Student | 18 | | Council; he was recognized in Who's Who Among Students in | 19 | | American Colleges and Universities in 1969; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers entered law school at Rutgers | 21 | | University; he later transferred to the University of | 22 | | Mississippi, which allowed him to work in rural Mississippi and |
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| 1 | | expand his civil rights work; he earned his law degree from the | 2 | | University of Mississippi in 1972; he was a student assistant | 3 | | to famed constitutional and civil rights lawyer Herbert Reid
| 4 | | who was the former Dean of the Law School at Howard University, | 5 | | as well as Chief Counsel to legendary
Congressman Adam Clayton | 6 | | Powell Jr. from New York; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, In 1971, Lewis Myers worked with what was then | 8 | | called the Goldberg
Commission in New York City; he served as | 9 | | an assistant on the staff and visited
many of the cities where | 10 | | the Black Panther Party had been involved in confrontations | 11 | | with the local police
departments; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers accepted a Reginald Heber Smith | 13 | | Fellowship, which enabled him to work with a civil rights legal | 14 | | services
program across the United States; he was selected to | 15 | | work in Mississippi, where he started working as a
staff | 16 | | attorney with North Mississippi Rural Legal Services in Oxford; | 17 | | initially, he handled school
desegregation cases; however, | 18 | | within a year of his graduation from law school, he filed suit | 19 | | on behalf of
African American law students at the University in | 20 | | the case of Robinson vs. University of Mississippi; the
lawsuit | 21 | | challenged the University's historic policies of racial | 22 | | discrimination and exclusion of African
Americans from | 23 | | admission to its law school and subsequently opened up the | 24 | | admissions process which has allowed many African American |
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| 1 | | students to complete their education since that time; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers became Director of Litigation in | 3 | | charge of more than 45 lawyers and 40 paralegals; he was
| 4 | | responsible for managing seven legal service offices | 5 | | throughout cities in Northern Mississippi and the
Mississippi | 6 | | Delta; he initiated numerous lawsuits challenging racial | 7 | | discrimination in municipal governments and in private
| 8 | | employment practices in the State of Mississippi; in 1973, he | 9 | | was one of the lawyers that filed the
historic case of Ayers | 10 | | vs. Mississippi which ultimately led to the desegregation of | 11 | | institutions of higher
learning in the United States after | 12 | | reaching the United States Supreme Court; between 1974 and | 13 | | 1976,
he was on the cutting edge of filing more than six | 14 | | lawsuits against county jails in the State of Mississippi
for | 15 | | inhumane conditions and the treatment of their inmates; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was involved in numerous historic | 17 | | cases, including the case of New
Jersey vs. Joanne Chesmard | 18 | | a/k/a Assata Shakur-mother of Tupac Shakur, the United States | 19 | | vs. Rene Leon, and the Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt case; he served | 20 | | as counsel for seven young boys who were expelled
from the | 21 | | Decatur public schools after a fight at a football game; and | 22 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers served as general counsel for several | 23 | | national civil rights leaders, including Minister Louis
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| 1 | | Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, and Rev. Al Sharpton; he | 2 | | served as
chief operating officer and the national deputy | 3 | | director of the NAACP in Baltimore; in August of 1993,
he | 4 | | served as national deputy coordinator of the historic 30th | 5 | | anniversary for the March on
Washington; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was one of the top litigation lawyers | 7 | | in the Chicago area; he taught Evidence and Trial Advocacy as
| 8 | | an adjunct professor at DePaul University's School of Law in | 9 | | Chicago; he taught at several Chicago City Colleges and served | 10 | | as director of the Criminal Justice Program at Kennedy King | 11 | | College; he
was also a professor teaching Criminal Justice at | 12 | | Chicago State University; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was a member of
the Illinois Bar, the | 14 | | Bar of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Bar of the | 15 | | Federal Appellate Court for
the Third Circuit, the Bar for the | 16 | | Federal Appellate Court for the Fifth Circuit, the Bar of the | 17 | | United States
Federal District Court for the Northern District | 18 | | of California, and the Bar for the Federal Court of Claims;
he | 19 | | was a member of the National
Conference of Black Lawyers, the | 20 | | National Lawyers' Guild (Executive Board, Chicago Chapter), | 21 | | the National
Bar Association, the National Association of | 22 | | Criminal Defense Attorneys, and the National Conference of
| 23 | | Black Lawyers (Chairperson, Chicago Chapter); he held | 24 | | memberships with several professional
organizations, including |
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| 1 | | Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the NAACP (Life Member), 500 Black | 2 | | Men (Founder of
Chicago Chapter), Black Men's Forum, and the | 3 | | American Historical Association; he was the recipient of many | 4 | | accolades and awards; he was listed in several
Who's Who | 5 | | publications and was recognized as one of the most influential | 6 | | African Americans in the United
States in various national | 7 | | publications; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers is survived by his wife, Celestine | 9 | | Narcisse-Myers, and his son, Lewis Myers III; therefore, be it
| 10 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | 11 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 12 | | Lewis Myers Jr., and extend our sincere condolences to his | 13 | | family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | 14 | | further
| 15 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 16 | | presented to the family of Lewis Myers as an expression of our | 17 | | deepest sympathy.
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