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1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, On Wednesday, January 12, 2011, the City of
3Chicago lost Hazel M. Johnson, the Mother of Environmental
4Justice; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Mrs. Hazel Johnson, a longtime resident of Altgeld
6Gardens, worked tirelessly to bring a change to the
7environmental conditions on the far South Side of the City; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In the 1980s, Mrs. Hazel Johnson founded a group
9called People for Community Recovery and put pressure on the
10Chicago Housing Authority to remove asbestos from Altgeld
11Gardens; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Mrs. Hazel Johnson's work in the community
13introduced her to a young organizer named Barack Obama, who
14worked closely with her on the asbestos abatement effort; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Mrs. Hazel Johnson was instrumental in convincing
16city health officials to test drinking water at Maryland Manor,
17a far South Side neighborhood, where they found cyanide and
18toxins in the water; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Mrs. Hazel Johnson joined a group of activists in
20urging President Bill Clinton to sign the Environmental Justice

 

 

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1Executive Order, which holds the federal government
2responsible for communities exposed to pollution; therefore,
3be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
5NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
6SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we designate the portion of
7130th Street from the Bishop Ford Freeway to State Street in
8Chicago as the "Hazel Johnson EJ Way"; and be it further
 
9    RESOLVED, That the Department of Transportation is
10requested to erect at suitable locations, consistent with State
11and federal regulations, appropriate plaques or signs giving
12notice of the name of the "Hazel Johnson EJ Way"; and be it
13further
 
14    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
15presented to Cheryl Johnson, the daughter of the Mother of
16Environmental Justice, and the Secretary of Transportation.