Full Text of HR1009 102nd General Assembly
HR1009 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to recognize the life of Chicago news | 4 | | columnist Ray Hanania; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Ray Hanania was born into a Christian Palestinian | 6 | | Arab American family in Chicago, the son of immigrants; his | 7 | | mother, Georgette, was born in Bethlehem and lived adjacent to | 8 | | the Church of the Nativity, where relatives continue to serve, | 9 | | and his father, George, was born in Jerusalem; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Ray Hanania was raised in Chicago and attended | 11 | | Chicago Public Schools; he attended Warren Elementary School, | 12 | | Bowen High School, Bogan High School, and Little Flower School | 13 | | and graduated from Reavis High School; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Ray Hanania followed the example of his father, | 15 | | who served in the OSS, his Uncle Moses, who served on a | 16 | | battleship during World War II, and his brother, John, who | 17 | | served in the U.S. Marines; in 1972, he enlisted in the U.S. | 18 | | Air Force and served at an F-111 fighter base stateside during | 19 | | the Vietnam War; he was honorably discharged and served 10 | 20 | | years in the Illinois Air National Guard in Peoria; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Although his parents wanted him to be a doctor |
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| 1 | | like many of his relatives, Ray Hanania studied politics under | 2 | | the late Professor Milton Rakove at the University of Illinois | 3 | | at Circle Campus; in his final semester in 1977, he was hired | 4 | | by the Southtown Economist as a reporter, where he began | 5 | | covering Chicago City Hall; in 1985, he was hired by the | 6 | | Chicago Sun-Times; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Ray Hanania interviewed Richard J. Daley before | 8 | | his death and covered the administrations of Michael A. | 9 | | Bilandic, Jane M. Byrne, Harold Washington, Eugene Sawyer, and | 10 | | Richard M. Daley; he is the recipient of four Peter Lisagor | 11 | | Awards, two Stick-O-Type Awards, and the Sigma Delta Chi | 12 | | National Writing Award in 2009; he was named Best Ethnic | 13 | | American Columnist in America (2006-2007); his columns were | 14 | | distributed by Creators Syndicate; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Ray Hanania hosted a live radio show on WLS-AM | 16 | | for 10 years; he is a longtime member of the Society of | 17 | | Professional Journalists and the author of several books, | 18 | | including Arabs of Chicagoland; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, As an Arab American, Ray Hanania has dedicated | 20 | | his life to pursuing Middle East peace between Israelis and | 21 | | Palestinians and served as National President of the | 22 | | Palestinian American Congress in 1995, advocating for the | 23 | | Rabin-Arafat peace accords; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, After September 11, 2001, Ray Hanania launched | 2 | | the Israeli Palestinian Comedy Tour with the motto "If we can | 3 | | laugh together, we can live together," being the first | 4 | | Palestinian to perform live comedy with Israelis throughout | 5 | | Israel, the West Bank, and Dublin, and across the U.S.; he | 6 | | continues to serve the community on the Arab American | 7 | | Democratic Club and Arab American Chamber of Commerce; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Ray Hanania balances his life working as a media | 9 | | consultant for government clients and writes political | 10 | | analysis for the Southwest News Newspaper Group and | 11 | | SuburbanChicagoland.com; he writes on Middle East issues for | 12 | | the Arab News Newspaper distributed in in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, | 13 | | France, and Japan and online in Britain and the U.S.; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Loved and hated like any good columnist because | 15 | | of his political writings, Ray Hanania pursues truth | 16 | | regardless of politics in the U.S. or the Middle East; he is | 17 | | dedicated to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and | 18 | | Arabs, hosting and speaking about and documenting Arab | 19 | | American heritage; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Ray Hanania lives in Orland Park with his wife, | 21 | | Alison, and son, Aaron, who are Jewish, and has a daughter, | 22 | | Carolyn, from a previous marriage, and two grandchildren; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Ray Hanania's greatest enjoyment was to watch | 2 | | Arabs and Jews, Palestinians and Israelis, dancing and | 3 | | laughing together at his son's Bar Mitzvah in 2014, proving | 4 | | that if Arabs and Jews can get along, Democrats and | 5 | | Republicans can get along, too; therefore, be it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 7 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 8 | | we recognize the life of Chicago news columnist Ray Hanania; | 9 | | and be it further
| 10 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 11 | | presented to Ray Hanania as a symbol of our respect and esteem.
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