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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are deeply
3sorry to learn of the death of Jay A. Miller of Evanston; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Jay Miller served as the Executive Director of the
5American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois for more than
625 years; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Jay Miller worked as a journalist in Cleveland and
8a union organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
9America before moving to Chicago to join the Midwest office of
10the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC); and
 
11    WHEREAS, Jay Miller led a campaign for the AFSC aimed at
12securing ratification of a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and helped
13to organize a rally for the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King,
14Jr. at Chicago's Soldier Field; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Jay Miller became the executive director of the
16ACLU of Illinois in 1965, when the organization had a staff of
17four and budget of less than $50,000, and soon led the
18organization to new and innovative cases, including
19desegregation of the Waukegan Public Schools, challenges to
20racial segregation in public housing, and defending the rights
21of protestors at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in

 

 

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1Chicago; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Jay Miller took a prominent role in challenging
3the police accounts of the shooting of Black Panther Fred
4Hampton, leading to the revelation of the true facts of that
5problem; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Jay Miller became a prominent voice for civil
7liberties in the State, traveled to every corner of the State
8to meet with ACLU members and others, and became a regular
9voice defending civil liberties in the media across Illinois,
10often invoking his own colorful rhetoric; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Jay Miller's vision and managerial skills,
12combined with his fierce passion for civil liberties, built the
13modern ACLU of Illinois, providing resources for the
14organization to take on early cases protecting the rights of
15persons with AIDS and HIV, ensuring fundamental rights for
16lesbians and gay men, worked to reform a decrepit and dangerous
17child welfare system and the Illinois Department of Mental
18Health, and challenged racial profiling and other racial
19discrimination across the State of Illinois; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Jay Miller is survived by his wife, Lou Kaplan;
21and his children: Josh Miller, Adam Miller, and Rebecca Miller;
22therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL
2ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
3his family and friends, the passing of Jay Miller; and be it
4further
 
5    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
6presented to the family of Jay Miller as a symbol of our
7sincere sympathy.