Full Text of HR1320 099th General Assembly
HR1320 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Chicago, the third largest city in the United | 3 | | States, is a thriving center of business, industry, and
| 4 | | culture, with approximately 83,733 registered black owned | 5 | | businesses and approximately 40 black communities; it was also | 6 | | the location of the Red
Summer Riot of 1919 and approximately | 7 | | 25 other race riots; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Black Wall Street - Illinois is an organization | 9 | | formed to partner with black business districts and communities
| 10 | | in Illinois and abroad, setting a standard for building | 11 | | sustainable black businesses and communities as a means to stop
| 12 | | violence, retaining current businesses while incubating new | 13 | | businesses, and growing through the rich historical blueprint | 14 | | in
the tradition of growth and prosperity with the original | 15 | | "Black Wall Street District" of Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood
| 16 | | District; being ostracized from the mainstream, the business | 17 | | and economic population's leaders of
the "Black Wall Street" | 18 | | Tulsa area reportedly used "Black Dollars" instead of United | 19 | | States currency during the early 1900s, allowing them the | 20 | | ability to
track its recirculation within the district; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Race riots not only destroyed black communities, | 22 | | but destroyed the people in those
communities as well; the | 23 | | wealth that was established for their children and the examples |
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| 1 | | of pride and self-respect were destroyed as well, causing black
| 2 | | business districts to become nonexistent and leaving the black | 3 | | communities in economic despair; although there were
some | 4 | | reparations, those came years later and were not given to over | 5 | | 85% of the communities destroyed; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, In June 2015, South Suburban Black Wall Street and | 7 | | Black Wall Street - Illinois, with the help
of Illinois State | 8 | | Representative LaShawn Ford, formed and hosted their First | 9 | | Annual Convention and 3-day tour from Chicago to
the "Black | 10 | | Wall Street District" in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, During the oil boom of the 1910s, the area of | 12 | | northeast Oklahoma around Tulsa flourished, including the
| 13 | | Greenwood neighborhood, which came to be known as the "Black | 14 | | Wall Street District"; many black men and women moved to
the | 15 | | area, structuring a system for wealth that produced some of the | 16 | | first known black millionaires in the United States; the area | 17 | | was home to several lawyers, realtors, doctors, and prominent | 18 | | black businessmen, many of them
multimillionaires; Greenwood | 19 | | boasted a variety of thriving businesses, such as grocery | 20 | | stores, clothing stores,
barbershops, banks, hotels, cafes, | 21 | | movie theaters, 2 newspapers, and many contemporary homes; | 22 | | Greenwood
residents enjoyed many luxuries that their white | 23 | | neighbors did not, including indoor plumbing and a remarkable | 24 | | school
system; each dollar circulated 36 to 100 times, |
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| 1 | | sometimes taking a year for currency to leave the community;
| 2 | | Greenwood, Oklahoma implemented a blueprint for success | 3 | | imitated by other black business communities across the
world; | 4 | | and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The 25 Black Wall Street - Illinois attendees, | 6 | | which consisted of business owners and workforce and community | 7 | | leaders
representing a plethora of different products and | 8 | | services, participated in presentations and meetings with | 9 | | businesses in
the Black Wall Street Greenwood District on many | 10 | | topics, including partnerships with Chicago communities, | 11 | | international
trade, and business franchising; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, The Tulsa, Oklahoma riot took place from May 31 to | 13 | | June 1, 1921; altercations between whites and blacks at
the | 14 | | jail led to a race war; a mob numbering more than 10,000 | 15 | | attacked the black district; machine-guns were
brought into | 16 | | use, 8 airplanes were employed to spy on the movements of the | 17 | | blacks and, according to some, were
used in bombing what was | 18 | | considered the "colored" section of the town; by the time order | 19 | | was restored, the entire business
district of "Black Wall | 20 | | Street" and many homes totaling over $1.5 million in value were | 21 | | said to have been destroyed by fire; in
the wake of the | 22 | | violence, 35 city blocks lay in charred ruins, over 800 people | 23 | | were treated for injuries, 15,000 were left
homeless, and an | 24 | | estimated 1,000-plus deaths occurred; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Within 5 years of the massacre, surviving | 2 | | residents who chose to remain in Tulsa rebuilt portions of the
| 3 | | district; they accomplished their goal despite the opposition | 4 | | of many Tulsa political and business leaders and punitive
| 5 | | rezoning laws enacted to prevent reconstruction; it resumed | 6 | | being a vital black community until segregation was
overturned | 7 | | by the federal government during the 1950s and 1960s; | 8 | | desegregation encouraged blacks to integrate
other surrounding | 9 | | communities and Greenwood lost much of its original vitality; | 10 | | since then, city leaders have attempted to
strip the landmark | 11 | | of its history; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, South Suburban Black Wall Street and Black Wall | 13 | | Street - Illinois's mission is to promote wealth and | 14 | | sustainability through changing, reinforcement, and
| 15 | | implementation of policies and procurements that effect access | 16 | | to information and education and economic resources to
build | 17 | | sustainable black businesses and communities; Black Wall | 18 | | Street - Illinois has partnered with members of the Black
Wall | 19 | | Street Greenwood District, community leaders, and State | 20 | | Representatives with a commitment to help with the
planning and | 21 | | development of the remaining portions of Greenwood destroyed in | 22 | | the race riot; and
| 23 | | WHEREAS, Through its vision and research, Black Wall Street - |
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| 1 | | Illinois has partnered all
existing Black Wall Street | 2 | | organizations to mobilize its structure in Chicago, identified | 3 | | black communities that
were targeted in race riot areas and | 4 | | examined their current economic condition, and formulated a | 5 | | strategic plan to conduct effective
outreach to motivate | 6 | | change; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Jim Crow segregation, legitimized by the Plessy v. | 8 | | Ferguson (1896) Supreme Court ruling, forced black people
to | 9 | | use separate and usually inferior facilities; the southern | 10 | | justice system systematically denied them equal protection
| 11 | | under the law and condoned the practice of vigilante mob | 12 | | violence; as an aspiring migrant from Alabama wrote in a
letter | 13 | | to the Chicago Defender, "I am in the darkness of the south and | 14 | | I am trying my best to get out"; blacks were ultimately forced | 15 | | to create their own neighborhoods, business districts, and | 16 | | economic base
to survive across the country; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, In 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina, political | 18 | | wars between prominent blacks and whites resulted in | 19 | | accusations of
sexual misconduct by black men against white | 20 | | women; a prominent black newspaper editor, Alex Manly, | 21 | | responded
with an editorial suggesting that it was possible | 22 | | that relations between white women and black men were | 23 | | consensual,
a taboo subject at the time; about 500 white men | 24 | | attacked and burned Manly's office, along with other black |
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| 1 | | businesses; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, Racial tension had been building in Atlanta, | 3 | | Georgia in 1906 and race-baiting in the state's gubernatorial
| 4 | | election brought it to a boil; blacks in Georgia had begun to | 5 | | prosper economically and socially and the Democratic
| 6 | | candidates for governor, Hoke Smith and Clark Howell, played on | 7 | | fears of a rising black middle class; about
10,000 white men | 8 | | and boys took to the streets, beating black men and burning | 9 | | businesses and homes; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, In August of 1908, a three-day riot took place in | 11 | | Springfield, Illinois; white mobs headed for the small
| 12 | | eleven-by-nine block area considered the "Negro" section and | 13 | | attacked homes and businesses in what is now
downtown | 14 | | Springfield; this riot, in the hometown of Abraham Lincoln, | 15 | | shocked Jane
Addams, who met the following year in New York | 16 | | City with prominent black civil rights activist W.E.B. Dubois | 17 | | to form
the NAACP to promote the equality of rights and the | 18 | | eradication of racial prejudice; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Between 1914 and 1920, roughly 500,000 black | 20 | | southerners packed their bags and headed to the north,
| 21 | | fundamentally transforming the social, cultural, and political | 22 | | landscape of cities such as Chicago, New York, Cleveland,
| 23 | | Pittsburgh, and Detroit; the Great Migration would reshape |
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| 1 | | black America and the nation as a whole; black southerners
| 2 | | faced a host of social, economic, and political challenges that | 3 | | prompted their migration to the north; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, The City of East St. Louis was the location of one | 5 | | of the bloodiest race riot in the 20th century; racial
tensions | 6 | | began to increase in February of 1917, when 470 black workers | 7 | | were hired to replace white workers who had
gone on strike | 8 | | against the Aluminum Ore Company; the May 28th disturbances | 9 | | were only a prelude to the violence that
erupted on July 2, | 10 | | 1917; no precautions were taken to ensure white job security or | 11 | | to grant union recognition, which further increased the already | 12 | | high level of hostilities; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, In 1919, race riots erupted in 26 U.S. cities | 14 | | during the course of
the year, including Washington, DC; | 15 | | Knoxville, Tennessee; Longview, Texas; Phillips County, | 16 | | Arkansas; Omaha, Nebraska;
and Chicago; many of the riots | 17 | | occurred during the summer months, in what is known as the "Red | 18 | | Summer"; racial
tension was particularly bad in northern | 19 | | cities, as white soldiers returning from World War I found that | 20 | | their jobs had
been taken by blacks who had migrated north; in | 21 | | addition, black soldiers returning from war became embittered | 22 | | by the
lack of civil rights extended to them, particularly | 23 | | after they risked their lives fighting for their country; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Postwar Washington, D.C., which was roughly 75% | 2 | | white, was a racial tinderbox; housing was in short supply and | 3 | | jobs were so scarce that ex-doughboys in uniform panhandled | 4 | | along Pennsylvania Avenue; however, Washington's black | 5 | | community was the largest and most prosperous in the country, | 6 | | with a small but impressive upper class of teachers, ministers, | 7 | | lawyers, and businessmen concentrated in the LeDriot Park | 8 | | neighborhood near Howard University; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Drawn by Chicago's meatpacking houses,
railway | 10 | | companies, and steel mills, the African-American population in | 11 | | Chicago skyrocketed from 44,000 in 1910 to
235,000 in 1930; a | 12 | | race riot ensued on July 27, 1919, lasting until August 3, | 13 | | 1919; after the riot, varying estimates of the death toll | 14 | | circulated, with the Chicago Police Chief estimating that 100 | 15 | | blacks had been killed; renowned journalist Ida B. Wells | 16 | | reported in the Chicago
Defender that 40 to 150 black people | 17 | | were killed in the rioting, while the NAACP estimated deaths at | 18 | | 100 to 200; 6,000 African-Americans were left homeless after | 19 | | their neighborhoods were burned; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, In August of 1919, a race riot in Knoxville, | 21 | | Tennessee broke out after a white mob mobilized in response to | 22 | | a black
man accused of murdering a white woman; the | 23 | | 5,000-strong mob stormed the county jail searching for the | 24 | | prisoner and freed 16 white prisoners, including suspected |
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| 1 | | murderers;
after looting the jail and sheriff's house, the mob | 2 | | moved on and attacked the African-American business district; | 3 | | many
of the city's black residents, aware of the race riots | 4 | | that had occurred across the country that summer, had armed
| 5 | | themselves and barricaded the intersection of Vine and Central | 6 | | to defend their businesses;
two platoons of the Tennessee | 7 | | National Guard's 4th Infantry led by Adjutant General Edward | 8 | | Sweeney arrived, but were unable to halt the chaos; the mob | 9 | | broke into stores and stole firearms and other weapons on their | 10 | | way to the
black business district; upon their arrival, the | 11 | | streets erupted in gunfire as black snipers exchanged fire with | 12 | | both rioters and soldiers; the Tennessee National Guard at one | 13 | | point fired 2 machine guns indiscriminately into the
| 14 | | neighborhood, eventually dispersing the rioters; shooting | 15 | | continued sporadically for several hours; outgunned, the
black | 16 | | defenders gradually fled, allowing the guardsmen to gain | 17 | | control of the area; newspapers placed the death toll at
just 2 | 18 | | persons, though eyewitness accounts suggest the dead were so | 19 | | many that the bodies were dumped into the Tennessee
River, | 20 | | while others were buried in mass graves outside the city; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, A riot in Detroit, Michigan in 1943 flared from | 22 | | the increased racial friction over the sharp rise in the black | 23 | | population, which led to competition with whites on the job and | 24 | | housing markets; on June 20, 1943, rioting broke out on Belle
| 25 | | Isle, a recreational area used by both races but predominately |
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| 1 | | by blacks; fist fights escalated into a major conflict; the
| 2 | | first wave of looting and bloodshed began in the "Paradise | 3 | | Valley" and later spread to other sections of the
city; white | 4 | | mobs attacked blacks in the downtown area and traveled into | 5 | | black neighborhoods by car; by the time
federal troops arrived | 6 | | to halt the riot, black communities and homes were damaged in | 7 | | amounts exceeding $2 million; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Many blacks were economically distressed because | 9 | | of the loss of homes, businesses, and jobs from previous race
| 10 | | riots; they migrated to areas like Chicago, New York, | 11 | | California, D.C., New Jersey, and Maryland, where they
found | 12 | | refuge and safety with other family members as well as entry | 13 | | level employment, government subsidies, and low-income | 14 | | housing; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Most of the black communities that were attacked | 16 | | from 1914 to 1943 were completely abandoned or regentrified,
or | 17 | | have continued to struggle because of the social, racial, and | 18 | | economic barriers that accompany generational
poverty; as | 19 | | descendants of black slaves struggled to recreate wealth and | 20 | | make demands for equal education and social and
workforce | 21 | | opportunities, over 700 riots took place between 1964 and 1971, | 22 | | adding to the debilitating forces for blacks
which further | 23 | | pushed them behind the economic development curve; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Race riots in the United States and their | 2 | | consequences for black communities have served as a constant | 3 | | reminder of the open platforms for constant displacement | 4 | | through the destruction of small
businesses and housing which | 5 | | has created the inability for blacks to rise above; lacking | 6 | | business or homeowners
insurance, blacks have left the land to | 7 | | be bought by developers or surrendered for delinquent taxes;
| 8 | | solving the attendant poverty problems and re-building the | 9 | | economic capacity that could re-circulate community dollars | 10 | | would create sustainability; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Research by social scientists William Collins and | 12 | | Robert Margo, published in the National Bureau of Economic
| 13 | | Research Working Paper 10243, shows that black communities have | 14 | | never recovered from the economic
impact created by race riots; | 15 | | the studies show economic disadvantages that were created to | 16 | | keep black communities under
the poverty level and classified | 17 | | as the working poor; finally, the studies show the impact of | 18 | | segregation on the rising prices of impoverished urban | 19 | | developments and the socioeconomic factors that created the | 20 | | downward spiral in black communities and
real estate values; | 21 | | and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, Many urban renewal initiatives and public housing | 23 | | transformation projects, among other pilot
programs, were | 24 | | created in the City of Chicago and other cities; other small |
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| 1 | | business and community initiatives were
also implemented; | 2 | | however, other ethnic races entering black communities were | 3 | | able to be funded and financed, while
black business owners | 4 | | were driven to close and work part-time minimum wage jobs to | 5 | | survive; black citizens migrated to other communities in | 6 | | surrounding areas; the initiatives were promoted as a way to | 7 | | create access, growth,
and equal opportunities for | 8 | | communities, but promoted renting instead of property | 9 | | ownership, thus creating
an economic gap which allowed other | 10 | | nationalities to fill the demands for small businesses and | 11 | | property ownership in black
communities; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Black Wall Street - Illinois will continue to have | 13 | | monthly conference calls and meetings to discuss the
| 14 | | implementation and transparency of policies with leadership | 15 | | that sustains and incubates black businesses and tax
paying | 16 | | citizens; boards and committees are being formed to help | 17 | | articulate the specific needs to amend existing
policies, | 18 | | police the procurement process, and build statistical data that | 19 | | speaks to the success of these policies and what is
needed to | 20 | | create economic progress; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Black Wall Street - Illinois will conduct a | 22 | | statewide tour of black business communities starting in the
| 23 | | Chicagoland area in July of 2016 to identify the strengths and | 24 | | areas for improvement, generate access to capital, and the
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| 1 | | recirculation of public and private dollars within those | 2 | | communities; the promotion of partnerships for local community
| 3 | | resources is a blueprint for building local profits that create | 4 | | access to
local contracts and workforce development | 5 | | opportunities; implementing this plan will lower crime and | 6 | | promote first
time homeowners and businesses; therefore, be it
| 7 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 8 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 9 | | recognize Black Wall Street - Illinois as a premier | 10 | | organization in the State of Illinois and thank them for their | 11 | | work in Illinois communities; and be it further
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 13 | | presented to the members of Black Wall Street - Illinois as | 14 | | symbol of
our esteem and respect.
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