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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| 2 | | WHEREAS, The appalling rise of hate speech and |
| 3 | | anti-Semitism across the country calls on all who value
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| 4 | | diversity, respect, and civility as the heart of a functioning |
| 5 | | democracy to stand united against bigotry and hate
of all |
| 6 | | kinds; and
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| 7 | | WHEREAS, Illinois Family Action distributed multiple |
| 8 | | anti-Semitic, homophobic, threatening, and hateful posts on
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| 9 | | their official social media page, callously belittling the most |
| 10 | | appalling tragedies of the Holocaust and recklessly
comparing |
| 11 | | those who disagree with their extreme agenda to Nazis; and
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| 12 | | WHEREAS, There was a 37% increase in anti-Jewish incidents |
| 13 | | reported to the FBI between 2016-2017; and
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| 14 | | WHEREAS, There were 1,564 religious-based incidents |
| 15 | | reported to the FBI in 2017, the second highest level
since |
| 16 | | statistics have been gathered; and
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| 17 | | WHEREAS, In 2004, a deadly shooting at our capitol building |
| 18 | | led to changes to the security procedures in the Capitol
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| 19 | | Complex; and
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| 20 | | WHEREAS, A lobby day sponsored by Illinois Family Action in |
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| 1 | | March 2019 overtaxed Capitol security, resulting
in at least |
| 2 | | three members requiring State Police escorts and multiple calls |
| 3 | | for assistance from Capitol Police by
members and legislative |
| 4 | | aides; and
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| 5 | | WHEREAS, The Southern Poverty Law Center has frequently |
| 6 | | cited the Illinois Family Institute and Illinois Family
Action |
| 7 | | in their monitoring of hate groups; and
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| 8 | | WHEREAS, A group truly driven by faith would realize the |
| 9 | | pain their rhetoric causes for members of the Jewish
community, |
| 10 | | for whom the horrors of Nazi Germany are all too real; and
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| 11 | | WHEREAS, Our legislative body must rise together against |
| 12 | | this bigoted language collectively and refuse to
accept it as |
| 13 | | the new normal; therefore, be it
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| 14 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE |
| 15 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE |
| 16 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we, along with the Jewish Caucus |
| 17 | | and allied legislators, condemn the extreme rhetoric of |
| 18 | | Illinois Family Action, call for a formal investigation into |
| 19 | | the group's hate speech and threats, and ask that the Secretary |
| 20 | | of State's office suspend the lobbying credentials of any |
| 21 | | individual working on behalf of Illinois Family Action or its |
| 22 | | parent organization, the Illinois Family Institute, until an |
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| 1 | | investigation is complete; and be it further
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| 2 | | RESOLVED, That we call for a review of security procedures |
| 3 | | in the Capitol Complex, including, but not limited to, the |
| 4 | | Secretary of State and the Illinois State Police, with the goal |
| 5 | | of review and implementation of needed updates; and be it |
| 6 | | further
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| 7 | | RESOLVED, That we stand in solidarity against hateful, |
| 8 | | racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic rhetoric of all kinds and |
| 9 | | call for
decent, respectful debate, especially when we |
| 10 | | disagree; and be it further
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| 11 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be |
| 12 | | delivered to the Governor, the Secretary of State, and the |
| 13 | | Director of State Police.
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