HR1492 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1492 LRB094 21875 KXB 60309 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., President and Founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, is one of America's foremost political and civil rights leaders; and

WHEREAS, Over the past 40 years, he has played a pivotal role in virtually every movement for empowerment, peace, civil rights, gender equality, and economic and social justice; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson has been called "the conscience of the nation" and "the great unifier", challenging America to establish just and humane priorities; and

WHEREAS, He is known for bringing people together across lines of race, class, gender, and belief; and

WHEREAS, He was born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina; he attended the University of Illinois on a football scholarship where he "Crossed the Burning Sands" at Pi Psi Chapter and became a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., becoming the 15th 2nd Vice Grand Basileus and later transferring to North Carolina A&T University; and

WHEREAS, Jesse Jackson founded People United to Save Humanity in Chicago in 1971; he founded the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984, and merged the two into the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in 1996; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson's two presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 broke new ground in United States politics and inspired over three million people to register and join the political process; and

WHEREAS, As a highly respected world leader, Reverend Jackson has acted many times as an international diplomat in sensitive situations; and

WHEREAS, In 1990, in an impressive victory, he was elected to the post of United States Senator from Washington, D.C., a position also known as "statehood Senator"; and

WHEREAS, A hallmark of Reverend Jackson's work has been his commitment to youth; he has visited thousands of high schools, colleges, universities, and correctional facilities encouraging excellence, inspiring hope, and challenging young people to award themselves with academic excellence and to stay drug free; and

WHEREAS, A renowned orator, Reverend Jackson has received numerous honors for his work in human and civil rights and for nonviolent social change; and

WHEREAS, In October 1997, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as "Special Envoy of the President and Secretary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa"; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson married his college sweetheart, Jacqueline Brown, in 1963, and they are the proud parents of five children; and

WHEREAS, One of their sons, Jesse Jackson, Jr., a Congressmen from Illinois, became a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Nu Pi Chapter in 2006; and

WHEREAS, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.; the fraternity is the first black fraternal organization to be founded at a historically black college; The official Omega Psi Phi website states "From its inception, the fraternity has worked to build a strong and effective force of men dedicated to principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift capable of giving expression to the hopes and aspirations of an unfree people in the land of the free"; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Reverend Jesse Jackson on his continued hard work for the people of this State and the country as a whole; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Reverend Jesse Jackson, along with our sincere regards.