Full Text of HR1036 98th General Assembly
HR1036 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the | 3 | | members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened | 4 | | to learn of the death of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who passed | 5 | | away on April 20, 2014; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Rubin Carter was born on May 6, 1937 into a family | 7 | | of seven children; he struggled with a hereditary speech | 8 | | impediment and was sent to a juvenile reform center at the age | 9 | | of 12 after an assault; he later escaped and joined the United | 10 | | States Army in 1954; he learned to box while serving in the | 11 | | Army in West Germany; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, After returning home from the Army, Rubin Carter | 13 | | committed a series of muggings and spent 4 years in various | 14 | | state prisons; after his release, he began his pro boxing | 15 | | career, winning 20 of his first 24 fights mostly by knockout; | 16 | | he was well known in the boxing world as a 160-pound contender | 17 | | who earned his nickname of "Hurricane" through his ferocity and | 18 | | punching power; he went 27-12-1 with 19 knockouts, memorably | 19 | | stopping two-division champ Emile Griffith in the first round | 20 | | in 1963; he also fought for a middleweight title in 1964, | 21 | | losing a unanimous decision to Joey Giardello; he boxed | 22 | | regularly on television at Madison Square Garden and overseas | 23 | | in London, Paris, and Johannesburg; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Rubin Carter's boxing career came to an abrupt end | 2 | | when he was imprisoned for 3 murders committed at a tavern in | 3 | | Paterson, New Jersey in 1966; Carter and his friend John Artis | 4 | | had been driving around Carter's hometown on the night that 3 | 5 | | white people were shot by 2 black men at the Lafayette Bar and | 6 | | Grill; they were convicted in 1967 by an all-white jury, | 7 | | largely on the testimony of 2 thieves who later recanted their | 8 | | stories; he was granted a new trial and briefly freed in 1976, | 9 | | but he was sent back for 9 more years after being convicted in | 10 | | a second trial; many celebrities, including Muhammad Ali and | 11 | | Coretta Scott King, spoke out on Carter's behalf and worked | 12 | | toward his release, joined by a network of friends and | 13 | | volunteers; he was then freed in 1985, when his convictions | 14 | | were finally thrown out after years of appeals; at his final | 15 | | trial, United States District Judge H. Lee Sarokin wrote that | 16 | | the boxer's prosecution had been "predicated upon an appeal to | 17 | | racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than | 18 | | disclosure"; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Following his tragic ordeal, Rubin Carter became a | 20 | | prominent public advocate for the wrongfully convicted from his | 21 | | new home in Canada, where he served as the executive director | 22 | | of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted from | 23 | | 1993 to 2005; he also received 2 honorary doctorates for his | 24 | | work; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Rubin Carter's ordeal and its racial overtones | 2 | | were publicized in Bob Dylan's 1975 song "Hurricane", several | 3 | | books, and a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington; he also | 4 | | wrote and spoke eloquently about his plight, publishing his | 5 | | autobiography, "The Sixteenth Round"; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Rubin Carter will be fondly remembered by his | 7 | | supporters and his loved ones for his unbreakable spirit, his | 8 | | endless enthusiasm for life, and his great willingness to fight | 9 | | against injustice with all his might; therefore, be it
| 10 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 11 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 12 | | we, along with his family and friends, mourn the passing of | 13 | | Rubin "Hurricane" Carter; and be it further
| 14 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 15 | | presented to the family of Rubin Carter as an expression of our | 16 | | sympathy.
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