Bill Text: NY J00911 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourning the death of Connie Hogarth, relentless social activist, distinguished citizen, and devoted member of her community

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-05-09 - ADOPTED [J00911 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-J00911-Introduced.html

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Senate Resolution No. 911

BY: Senator HARCKHAM

        MOURNING  the  death of Connie Hogarth, relentless
        social activist, distinguished citizen, and  devoted
        member of her community

  WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to pay tribute to
citizens  of  the  State  of  New York whose lifework and civic endeavor
served to enhance the quality of life  in  their  communities  and  this
great Empire State; and

  WHEREAS,  Connie Hogarth of Brooklyn, New York, died on February 11,
2022, at the age of 95; and

  WHEREAS, Born to Stanley and Rose Holubar, Connie Hogarth was 7 or 8
when she was introduced to activism  by  her  parents;  she  joined  her
father  on  the  picket line during strikes led by the union and learned
from her mother's early feminist ideals; and

  WHEREAS,  Hoping  to  be  a  doctor,  Connie  Hogarth  attended  the
University  of  Chicago  as  a  pre-med and dance student; after earning
bachelor's degrees in 1947 and 1948, she  could  not  get  into  medical
school and instead became a medical researcher; and

  WHEREAS,  Upon  moving  to Manhattan, Connie Hogarth worked at Mount
Sinai Hospital, where she researched a drug to treat  multiple  myeloma;
and

  WHEREAS,  In  1951,  Connie  Hogarth was introduced to the political
scene when she marched around the White House to protest  the  trial  of
Julius  and  Ethel Rosenberg, who were accused of passing atomic secrets
to the Soviet Union; and

  WHEREAS, Inspired to act during  the  Vietnam  War,  Connie  Hogarth
became  involved  with  groups like the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom and Women's Strike for Peace; she was arrested for the
first  of  more  than  20  times  during  a  "die-in"  demonstration  in
Washington, D.C., where protestors laid down in front of the White House
to represent the Vietnamese who were dying each day; and

  WHEREAS,  As the war came to an end in 1973, Connie Hogarth formally
started the Westchester People's Action Coalition (WESPAC) with a  group
of  like-minded  individuals;  the progressive group serves as a vehicle
for social action through protests, lobbying, pushing money for minority
jobs on construction sites, and sending public speakers to raise  alarms
about issues like climate change; and

  WHEREAS,  Connie  Hogarth  is  passionate  about many social issues,
however, Nuclear power was most notably her focus; she was one  of  more
than 1,000 protestors arrested in 1977 on the site of the later Seabrook
Nuclear  Power  Plant in New Hampshire, and in 1979 she was arrested for
trespassing with more than 200 others at the Indian Point Nuclear  Power
Plant in Buchanan, New York; and

  WHEREAS,  Training  volunteers  in  nonviolent  civil  disobedience,
Connie Hogarth and WESPAC has embraced  many  causes,  including  ending
apartheid   in   South  Africa;  working  with  two  Westchester  County
legislators, WESPAC helped persuade the country  to  stop  investing  in
banks that did business with South Africa; and

  WHEREAS,  Regarded  highly  by  her  colleagues,  Connie Hogarth was
called The Conscience of White Plains by the Daily News in 1979, and  in
1983, the Pre-eminent Dissenter in Westchester, by Suburbia Today; and

  WHEREAS,  Connie  Hogarth  retired as WESPAC's executive director in
1996, after 23 years; two years later, the  Connie  Hogarth  Center  for
Social  Action  opened at Manhattanville College, where she helped teach
students to become effective social activists; and

  WHEREAS, Selflessly devoted to better the world and society,  Connie
Hogarth  was  also involved with organizations Climate Crisis Coalition,
the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the environmental  group  Hudson
River Sloop Clearwater; and

  WHEREAS,  Connie  Hogarth  is survived by her sons Ross and Richard,
and her grandson, all of whom cherish her loving memory; and

  WHEREAS, Armed with a humanistic spirit and imbued with a  sense  of
compassion, Connie Hogarth leaves behind a legacy which will long endure
the  passage  of  time and will remain as a comforting memory to all she
served and befriended; now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its  deliberations  to
mourn   the   death  of  Connie  Hogarth,  relentless  social  activist,
distinguished citizen, and devoted member of her community;  and  be  it
further

  RESOLVED,  That  a  copy  of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to the family of Connie Hogarth.