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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, It is the duty of the United States Congress to
3enact measures that establish justice, ensure domestic
4tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the
5general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for every
6resident of this nation; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Throughout the course of our nation's history,
8there has been one consistent voice supporting racial and
9social inequality and promoting the intimidation, subjugation,
10and violent repression of individuals solely on the basis of
11their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and
12immigration status; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Since the issuance of the Emancipation
14Proclamation, the Ku Klux Klan and its many affiliates have
15terrorized African-Americans; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Since its founding in 1866, the main objective of
17this terrorist group has been to end or interfere with any
18policy giving equal rights to African-Americans; and
 
19    WHEREAS, In 1964, the Ku Klux Klan was held responsible for
20the deaths of three civil rights workers (James Chaney, Andrew
21Goodman, and Michael Schwerner), who were shot near Meridian,

 

 

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1Mississippi; and
 
2    WHEREAS, In 1963, the Ku Klux Klan organized the bombing,
3which claimed the lives of four young girls, of the Sixteenth
4Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The Ku Klux Klan has used tactics such as
6lynching, bombing, tar-and-feathering, shooting, rape,
7assaults on both property and persons, assassinations, and a
8host of Jim Crow-era laws in an effort to terrorize
9African-Americans; they and their affiliates were pioneers in
10the use of the Internet to recruit and mobilize members and
11remain an active online presence, seeking to indoctrinate and
12inspire youth to continue their campaign of hate; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The Ku Klux Klan's tactics mirror those of
14modern-day terrorist groups such as ISIS, BOKO Haram, and
15others whose sole purpose is to intimidate, disenfranchise,
16silence, and kill particular groups of people; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The Ku Klux Klan's message of racial and social
18injustice has led to senseless acts of violence that continue
19to terrorize African-American individuals and communities in
20our time; therefore, be it
 
21    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL

 

 

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1ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Congress to
2recognize the Ku Klux Klan as a terrorist organization and
3pursue dismantling this domestic terrorist hate group with the
4same fervor used to protect the United States from other
5manifestations of terrorism; and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
7delivered to the Speaker of the United States House of
8Representatives Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch
9McConnell, and all members of the Illinois Congressional
10Delegation.