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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walked into
3the heart of Jim Crow demanding change from those
4intransigents in their hatred; his courage was unquestioned,
5his method of nonviolence was risky, and his style was
6unapologetic; and
 
7    WHEREAS, At 34 years of age, Dr. King received
8international recognition with the awarding of the Nobel Peace
9Prize; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
11immorally recorded the life and conversations of Dr. King; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The FBI began monitoring Dr. King in December
131955 during his involvement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott
14and engaged in covert operations against him throughout the
151960s; and
 
16    WHEREAS, For the last four and one-half years of his life,
17from November 1963 until his death in April 1968, Dr. King
18lived without any semblance of privacy; his hotel rooms were
19bugged, his phones tapped, and his office and inner circle
20infiltrated by informants; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, On November 21, 1964, the FBI anonymously sent
2Dr. King a letter encouraging him to commit suicide to avoid
3public embarrassment; and
 
4    WHEREAS, According to a U.S. Senate Committee convened in
5the 1970s to investigate the FBI's domestic intelligence
6operations, when Dr. King condemned the Vietnam War in a
7speech at Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, the FBI
8interpreted this position as proof he "has been influenced by
9Communist advisors" and increased their covert operations
10against him; and
 
11    WHEREAS, In August 1967, the FBI created a
12counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO, which targeted Dr.
13King, the Black Panther Party, and other civil rights leaders;
14and
 
15    WHEREAS, The FBI's surveillance tapes and the transcripts
16of them remain under seal until 2027; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Dr. King is critical to memorializing the Black
18experience in America; his mission and the challenges he
19unfortunately confronted remain timeless, and no one has the
20right to feed on his legacy; therefore, be it
 
21    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL

 

 

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1ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Governor
2Pritzker to express written support for the destruction of the
3National Archives and Record Administration's immorally
4obtained surveillance tapes on Dr. Martin Luther King; and be
5it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That we urge Governor Pritzker to work with the
7Illinois General Assembly to pass legislation that will
8prevent similar abuses of power from being perpetrated for
9immoral and defamatory reasons; and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
11delivered to Governor Pritzker, Lt. Governor Stratton,
12Governor Pritzker's Office of Equity, and the Illinois
13Attorney General.