HR1320 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1320 LRB099 22188 GRL 49553 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Chicago, the third largest city in the United States, is a thriving center of business, industry, and culture, with approximately 83,733 registered black owned businesses and approximately 40 black communities; it was also the location of the Red Summer Riot of 1919 and approximately 25 other race riots; and

WHEREAS, Black Wall Street - Illinois is an organization formed to partner with black business districts and communities in Illinois and abroad, setting a standard for building sustainable black businesses and communities as a means to stop violence, retaining current businesses while incubating new businesses, and growing through the rich historical blueprint in the tradition of growth and prosperity with the original "Black Wall Street District" of Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood District; being ostracized from the mainstream, the business and economic population's leaders of the "Black Wall Street" Tulsa area reportedly used "Black Dollars" instead of United States currency during the early 1900s, allowing them the ability to track its recirculation within the district; and

WHEREAS, Race riots not only destroyed black communities, but destroyed the people in those communities as well; the wealth that was established for their children and the examples of pride and self-respect were destroyed as well, causing black business districts to become nonexistent and leaving the black communities in economic despair; although there were some reparations, those came years later and were not given to over 85% of the communities destroyed; and

WHEREAS, In June 2015, South Suburban Black Wall Street and Black Wall Street - Illinois, with the help of Illinois State Representative LaShawn Ford, formed and hosted their First Annual Convention and 3-day tour from Chicago to the "Black Wall Street District" in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and

WHEREAS, During the oil boom of the 1910s, the area of northeast Oklahoma around Tulsa flourished, including the Greenwood neighborhood, which came to be known as the "Black Wall Street District"; many black men and women moved to the area, structuring a system for wealth that produced some of the first known black millionaires in the United States; the area was home to several lawyers, realtors, doctors, and prominent black businessmen, many of them multimillionaires; Greenwood boasted a variety of thriving businesses, such as grocery stores, clothing stores, barbershops, banks, hotels, cafes, movie theaters, 2 newspapers, and many contemporary homes; Greenwood residents enjoyed many luxuries that their white neighbors did not, including indoor plumbing and a remarkable school system; each dollar circulated 36 to 100 times, sometimes taking a year for currency to leave the community; Greenwood, Oklahoma implemented a blueprint for success imitated by other black business communities across the world; and

WHEREAS, The 25 Black Wall Street - Illinois attendees, which consisted of business owners and workforce and community leaders representing a plethora of different products and services, participated in presentations and meetings with businesses in the Black Wall Street Greenwood District on many topics, including partnerships with Chicago communities, international trade, and business franchising; and

WHEREAS, The Tulsa, Oklahoma riot took place from May 31 to June 1, 1921; altercations between whites and blacks at the jail led to a race war; a mob numbering more than 10,000 attacked the black district; machine-guns were brought into use, 8 airplanes were employed to spy on the movements of the blacks and, according to some, were used in bombing what was considered the "colored" section of the town; by the time order was restored, the entire business district of "Black Wall Street" and many homes totaling over $1.5 million in value were said to have been destroyed by fire; in the wake of the violence, 35 city blocks lay in charred ruins, over 800 people were treated for injuries, 15,000 were left homeless, and an estimated 1,000-plus deaths occurred; and

WHEREAS, Within 5 years of the massacre, surviving residents who chose to remain in Tulsa rebuilt portions of the district; they accomplished their goal despite the opposition of many Tulsa political and business leaders and punitive rezoning laws enacted to prevent reconstruction; it resumed being a vital black community until segregation was overturned by the federal government during the 1950s and 1960s; desegregation encouraged blacks to integrate other surrounding communities and Greenwood lost much of its original vitality; since then, city leaders have attempted to strip the landmark of its history; and

WHEREAS, South Suburban Black Wall Street and Black Wall Street - Illinois's mission is to promote wealth and sustainability through changing, reinforcement, and implementation of policies and procurements that effect access to information and education and economic resources to build sustainable black businesses and communities; Black Wall Street - Illinois has partnered with members of the Black Wall Street Greenwood District, community leaders, and State Representatives with a commitment to help with the planning and development of the remaining portions of Greenwood destroyed in the race riot; and

WHEREAS, Through its vision and research, Black Wall Street - Illinois has partnered all existing Black Wall Street organizations to mobilize its structure in Chicago, identified black communities that were targeted in race riot areas and examined their current economic condition, and formulated a strategic plan to conduct effective outreach to motivate change; and

WHEREAS, Jim Crow segregation, legitimized by the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Supreme Court ruling, forced black people to use separate and usually inferior facilities; the southern justice system systematically denied them equal protection under the law and condoned the practice of vigilante mob violence; as an aspiring migrant from Alabama wrote in a letter to the Chicago Defender, "I am in the darkness of the south and I am trying my best to get out"; blacks were ultimately forced to create their own neighborhoods, business districts, and economic base to survive across the country; and

WHEREAS, In 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina, political wars between prominent blacks and whites resulted in accusations of sexual misconduct by black men against white women; a prominent black newspaper editor, Alex Manly, responded with an editorial suggesting that it was possible that relations between white women and black men were consensual, a taboo subject at the time; about 500 white men attacked and burned Manly's office, along with other black businesses; and

WHEREAS, Racial tension had been building in Atlanta, Georgia in 1906 and race-baiting in the state's gubernatorial election brought it to a boil; blacks in Georgia had begun to prosper economically and socially and the Democratic candidates for governor, Hoke Smith and Clark Howell, played on fears of a rising black middle class; about 10,000 white men and boys took to the streets, beating black men and burning businesses and homes; and

WHEREAS, In August of 1908, a three-day riot took place in Springfield, Illinois; white mobs headed for the small eleven-by-nine block area considered the "Negro" section and attacked homes and businesses in what is now downtown Springfield; this riot, in the hometown of Abraham Lincoln, shocked Jane Addams, who met the following year in New York City with prominent black civil rights activist W.E.B. Dubois to form the NAACP to promote the equality of rights and the eradication of racial prejudice; and

WHEREAS, Between 1914 and 1920, roughly 500,000 black southerners packed their bags and headed to the north, fundamentally transforming the social, cultural, and political landscape of cities such as Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Detroit; the Great Migration would reshape black America and the nation as a whole; black southerners faced a host of social, economic, and political challenges that prompted their migration to the north; and

WHEREAS, The City of East St. Louis was the location of one of the bloodiest race riot in the 20th century; racial tensions began to increase in February of 1917, when 470 black workers were hired to replace white workers who had gone on strike against the Aluminum Ore Company; the May 28th disturbances were only a prelude to the violence that erupted on July 2, 1917; no precautions were taken to ensure white job security or to grant union recognition, which further increased the already high level of hostilities; and

WHEREAS, In 1919, race riots erupted in 26 U.S. cities during the course of the year, including Washington, DC; Knoxville, Tennessee; Longview, Texas; Phillips County, Arkansas; Omaha, Nebraska; and Chicago; many of the riots occurred during the summer months, in what is known as the "Red Summer"; racial tension was particularly bad in northern cities, as white soldiers returning from World War I found that their jobs had been taken by blacks who had migrated north; in addition, black soldiers returning from war became embittered by the lack of civil rights extended to them, particularly after they risked their lives fighting for their country; and

WHEREAS, Postwar Washington, D.C., which was roughly 75% white, was a racial tinderbox; housing was in short supply and jobs were so scarce that ex-doughboys in uniform panhandled along Pennsylvania Avenue; however, Washington's black community was the largest and most prosperous in the country, with a small but impressive upper class of teachers, ministers, lawyers, and businessmen concentrated in the LeDriot Park neighborhood near Howard University; and

WHEREAS, Drawn by Chicago's meatpacking houses, railway companies, and steel mills, the African-American population in Chicago skyrocketed from 44,000 in 1910 to 235,000 in 1930; a race riot ensued on July 27, 1919, lasting until August 3, 1919; after the riot, varying estimates of the death toll circulated, with the Chicago Police Chief estimating that 100 blacks had been killed; renowned journalist Ida B. Wells reported in the Chicago Defender that 40 to 150 black people were killed in the rioting, while the NAACP estimated deaths at 100 to 200; 6,000 African-Americans were left homeless after their neighborhoods were burned; and

WHEREAS, In August of 1919, a race riot in Knoxville, Tennessee broke out after a white mob mobilized in response to a black man accused of murdering a white woman; the 5,000-strong mob stormed the county jail searching for the prisoner and freed 16 white prisoners, including suspected murderers; after looting the jail and sheriff's house, the mob moved on and attacked the African-American business district; many of the city's black residents, aware of the race riots that had occurred across the country that summer, had armed themselves and barricaded the intersection of Vine and Central to defend their businesses; two platoons of the Tennessee National Guard's 4th Infantry led by Adjutant General Edward Sweeney arrived, but were unable to halt the chaos; the mob broke into stores and stole firearms and other weapons on their way to the black business district; upon their arrival, the streets erupted in gunfire as black snipers exchanged fire with both rioters and soldiers; the Tennessee National Guard at one point fired 2 machine guns indiscriminately into the neighborhood, eventually dispersing the rioters; shooting continued sporadically for several hours; outgunned, the black defenders gradually fled, allowing the guardsmen to gain control of the area; newspapers placed the death toll at just 2 persons, though eyewitness accounts suggest the dead were so many that the bodies were dumped into the Tennessee River, while others were buried in mass graves outside the city; and

WHEREAS, A riot in Detroit, Michigan in 1943 flared from the increased racial friction over the sharp rise in the black population, which led to competition with whites on the job and housing markets; on June 20, 1943, rioting broke out on Belle Isle, a recreational area used by both races but predominately by blacks; fist fights escalated into a major conflict; the first wave of looting and bloodshed began in the "Paradise Valley" and later spread to other sections of the city; white mobs attacked blacks in the downtown area and traveled into black neighborhoods by car; by the time federal troops arrived to halt the riot, black communities and homes were damaged in amounts exceeding $2 million; and

WHEREAS, Many blacks were economically distressed because of the loss of homes, businesses, and jobs from previous race riots; they migrated to areas like Chicago, New York, California, D.C., New Jersey, and Maryland, where they found refuge and safety with other family members as well as entry level employment, government subsidies, and low-income housing; and

WHEREAS, Most of the black communities that were attacked from 1914 to 1943 were completely abandoned or regentrified, or have continued to struggle because of the social, racial, and economic barriers that accompany generational poverty; as descendants of black slaves struggled to recreate wealth and make demands for equal education and social and workforce opportunities, over 700 riots took place between 1964 and 1971, adding to the debilitating forces for blacks which further pushed them behind the economic development curve; and

WHEREAS, Race riots in the United States and their consequences for black communities have served as a constant reminder of the open platforms for constant displacement through the destruction of small businesses and housing which has created the inability for blacks to rise above; lacking business or homeowners insurance, blacks have left the land to be bought by developers or surrendered for delinquent taxes; solving the attendant poverty problems and re-building the economic capacity that could re-circulate community dollars would create sustainability; and

WHEREAS, Research by social scientists William Collins and Robert Margo, published in the National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 10243, shows that black communities have never recovered from the economic impact created by race riots; the studies show economic disadvantages that were created to keep black communities under the poverty level and classified as the working poor; finally, the studies show the impact of segregation on the rising prices of impoverished urban developments and the socioeconomic factors that created the downward spiral in black communities and real estate values; and

WHEREAS, Many urban renewal initiatives and public housing transformation projects, among other pilot programs, were created in the City of Chicago and other cities; other small business and community initiatives were also implemented; however, other ethnic races entering black communities were able to be funded and financed, while black business owners were driven to close and work part-time minimum wage jobs to survive; black citizens migrated to other communities in surrounding areas; the initiatives were promoted as a way to create access, growth, and equal opportunities for communities, but promoted renting instead of property ownership, thus creating an economic gap which allowed other nationalities to fill the demands for small businesses and property ownership in black communities; and

WHEREAS, Black Wall Street - Illinois will continue to have monthly conference calls and meetings to discuss the implementation and transparency of policies with leadership that sustains and incubates black businesses and tax paying citizens; boards and committees are being formed to help articulate the specific needs to amend existing policies, police the procurement process, and build statistical data that speaks to the success of these policies and what is needed to create economic progress; and

WHEREAS, Black Wall Street - Illinois will conduct a statewide tour of black business communities starting in the Chicagoland area in July of 2016 to identify the strengths and areas for improvement, generate access to capital, and the recirculation of public and private dollars within those communities; the promotion of partnerships for local community resources is a blueprint for building local profits that create access to local contracts and workforce development opportunities; implementing this plan will lower crime and promote first time homeowners and businesses; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize Black Wall Street - Illinois as a premier organization in the State of Illinois and thank them for their work in Illinois communities; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the members of Black Wall Street - Illinois as symbol of our esteem and respect.