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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING COOK COUNTY AND ILLINOIS AFRICAN-AMERICAN TRAIL BLAZERS IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH
WHEREAS, in a times of strife and uncertainty, our great country continues to move forward and overcome the challenges placed before it, evidenced by the United States Congress achieving a new milestone in diversity this year with its highest-ever number of women and racial minority members, including sixty Black lawmakers; and
WHEREAS, the majority of said members were elected to the House of Representatives, which has historically provided a more straightforward path to Congress in part due to voters in urban congressional districts, which tend to be more diverse and politically progressive; and
WHEREAS, ascending to the Senate has been more challenging as a result of political conservatism in White majority regions of the U.S., in fact newly elected Senator Raphael Warnock is only the 11th Black U.S. Senator since the Senate convened for the first time in 1789 and only two have been women; and
WHEREAS, while we celebrate the Honorable Kamala Harris becoming the 1st woman, the 1st African-American, the 1st Asian-American, the 1st graduate of a historically Black college or university to be sworn in as Vice President of the United States of America, the Senate is now left without a Black female Senator and only 3 Black male Senators; and
WHEREAS, Illinois and Cook County has played an especially important role in making history in the U.S. Senate with 3 out of the 11 Senators having hailed from Illinois and Cook County including: the Honorable Carol Moseley Braun, who became the 1st Black female U.S. Senator, the Honorable Kamala Harris being the 2nd and only other; the Honorable Barack Obama, who was the 5th Black U.S. Senator and only the third one elected by voters and proceeded to become the 1st Black President of the United States; and the Honorable Roland Burris, who was appointed in 2008 to fill President ...
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