Full Text of HR0362 102nd General Assembly
HR0362 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, May 31 through June 1, 2021 marks 100 years since | 3 | | one of the worst instances of racial violence in American | 4 | | history known as the Tulsa Race Massacre; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The massacre began during Memorial Day weekend | 6 | | after 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a Black shoeshiner, was | 7 | | accused of assaulting Sarah Page, a 17-year-old White elevator | 8 | | operator of the nearby Drexel Building; he was taken into | 9 | | custody, and a mob of hundreds of White men gathered around the | 10 | | jail where Rowland was being kept, determined to lynch him; in | 11 | | response, a group of 75 Black men arrived at the jail in order | 12 | | to protect Rowland, and violence broke out between the two | 13 | | groups; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, As news of the confrontation spread across Tulsa, | 15 | | more violence erupted; on the evening of May 31 through the | 16 | | afternoon of June 1, 1921, a violent mob of hundreds of White | 17 | | people attacked Tulsa's Greenwood District; the district was, | 18 | | at that time, the wealthiest Black community in the United | 19 | | States and was referred to as "Black Wall Street"; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, The mob destroyed 35 square blocks, burned | 21 | | businesses and an estimated 1,250 homes to the ground, and | 22 | | murdered as many as 300 Black Tulsans; the damage done is |
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| 1 | | estimated to equal $27 million in today's dollars; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Many of the dead were buried in mass graves that | 3 | | were only recently discovered; approximately 10,000 Black | 4 | | people were left homeless, and many Black survivors left the | 5 | | city and never returned; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, A 2001 state commission report found that the | 7 | | City of Tulsa had conspired with the mob of White citizens, | 8 | | including deputizing them and giving them weapons; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, The massacre has not been included in many local, | 10 | | state, and national histories and was widely forgotten until | 11 | | recent pushes to have the massacre recognized; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Oklahoma recently passed legislation in order to | 13 | | establish scholarships for the descendants of survivors, | 14 | | encourage the economic development of Greenwood, and develop a | 15 | | park in memory of the victims of the massacre in Tulsa; in | 16 | | 2020, the massacre became a part of the Oklahoma school | 17 | | curriculum; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Recently, 107-year-old massacre survivor Viola | 19 | | Fletcher testified before members of a U.S. House Judiciary | 20 | | subcommittee and called for justice and for the country to | 21 | | officially acknowledge the massacre ahead of the 100th |
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| 1 | | anniversary; therefore, be it
| 2 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 3 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 4 | | we recognize May 31, 2021 through June 1, 2021 as the 100th | 5 | | anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
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