Bill Text: IL SR1839 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of Lewis Myers Jr.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2018-11-15 - Resolution Adopted [SR1839 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2017-SR1839-Introduced.html
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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | ||||||
3 | learn of the death of Lewis Myers Jr., who passed away on May | ||||||
4 | 24, 2018; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was born in Houston, Texas and | ||||||
6 | graduated with honors from Phillis Wheatley High School in | ||||||
7 | 1965, where he was recognized in Who's Who Among Students in | ||||||
8 | American High Schools; he was elected NAACP Youth Council | ||||||
9 | President for the Houston branch and led student demonstrations | ||||||
10 | that helped integrate the Houston Independent School District; | ||||||
11 | and
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12 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers studied at Tennessee State | ||||||
13 | University, where he joined the Student Non-Violent | ||||||
14 | Coordinating Committee (S.N.C.C.) Chapter; he also became | ||||||
15 | chairman of the Students Rights Organization Chapter at | ||||||
16 | Tennessee State; he transferred to Howard University, and in | ||||||
17 | 1968, was elected president of the Undergraduate Student | ||||||
18 | Council; he was recognized in Who's Who Among Students in | ||||||
19 | American Colleges and Universities in 1969; and
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20 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers entered law school at Rutgers | ||||||
21 | University; he later transferred to the University of | ||||||
22 | Mississippi, which allowed him to work in rural Mississippi and |
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1 | expand his civil rights work; he earned his law degree from the | ||||||
2 | University of Mississippi in 1972; he was a student assistant | ||||||
3 | to famed constitutional and civil rights lawyer Herbert Reid
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4 | who was the former Dean of the Law School at Howard University, | ||||||
5 | as well as Chief Counsel to legendary
Congressman Adam Clayton | ||||||
6 | Powell Jr. from New York; and
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7 | WHEREAS, In 1971, Lewis Myers worked with what was then | ||||||
8 | called the Goldberg
Commission in New York City; he served as | ||||||
9 | an assistant on the staff and visited
many of the cities where | ||||||
10 | the Black Panther Party had been involved in confrontations | ||||||
11 | with the local police
departments; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers accepted a Reginald Heber Smith | ||||||
13 | Fellowship, which enabled him to work with a civil rights legal | ||||||
14 | services
program across the United States; he was selected to | ||||||
15 | work in Mississippi, where he started working as a
staff | ||||||
16 | attorney with North Mississippi Rural Legal Services in Oxford; | ||||||
17 | initially, he handled school
desegregation cases; however, | ||||||
18 | within a year of his graduation from law school, he filed suit | ||||||
19 | on behalf of
African American law students at the University in | ||||||
20 | the case of Robinson vs. University of Mississippi; the
lawsuit | ||||||
21 | challenged the University's historic policies of racial | ||||||
22 | discrimination and exclusion of African
Americans from | ||||||
23 | admission to its law school and subsequently opened up the | ||||||
24 | admissions process which has allowed many African American |
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1 | students to complete their education since that time; and
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2 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers became Director of Litigation in | ||||||
3 | charge of more than 45 lawyers and 40 paralegals; he was
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4 | responsible for managing seven legal service offices | ||||||
5 | throughout cities in Northern Mississippi and the
Mississippi | ||||||
6 | Delta; he initiated numerous lawsuits challenging racial | ||||||
7 | discrimination in municipal governments and in private
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8 | employment practices in the State of Mississippi; in 1973, he | ||||||
9 | was one of the lawyers that filed the
historic case of Ayers | ||||||
10 | vs. Mississippi which ultimately led to the desegregation of | ||||||
11 | institutions of higher
learning in the United States after | ||||||
12 | reaching the United States Supreme Court; between 1974 and | ||||||
13 | 1976,
he was on the cutting edge of filing more than six | ||||||
14 | lawsuits against county jails in the State of Mississippi
for | ||||||
15 | inhumane conditions and the treatment of their inmates; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was involved in numerous historic | ||||||
17 | cases, including the case of New
Jersey vs. Joanne Chesmard | ||||||
18 | a/k/a Assata Shakur-mother of Tupac Shakur, the United States | ||||||
19 | vs. Rene Leon, and the Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt case; he served | ||||||
20 | as counsel for seven young boys who were expelled
from the | ||||||
21 | Decatur public schools after a fight at a football game; and
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22 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers served as general counsel for several | ||||||
23 | national civil rights leaders, including Minister Louis
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1 | Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, and Rev. Al Sharpton; he | ||||||
2 | served as
chief operating officer and the national deputy | ||||||
3 | director of the NAACP in Baltimore; in August of 1993,
he | ||||||
4 | served as national deputy coordinator of the historic 30th | ||||||
5 | anniversary for the March on
Washington; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was one of the top litigation lawyers | ||||||
7 | in the Chicago area; he taught Evidence and Trial Advocacy as
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8 | an adjunct professor at DePaul University's School of Law in | ||||||
9 | Chicago; he taught at several Chicago City Colleges and served | ||||||
10 | as director of the Criminal Justice Program at Kennedy King | ||||||
11 | College; he
was also a professor teaching Criminal Justice at | ||||||
12 | Chicago State University; and
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13 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was a member of
the Illinois Bar, the | ||||||
14 | Bar of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Bar of the | ||||||
15 | Federal Appellate Court for
the Third Circuit, the Bar for the | ||||||
16 | Federal Appellate Court for the Fifth Circuit, the Bar of the | ||||||
17 | United States
Federal District Court for the Northern District | ||||||
18 | of California, and the Bar for the Federal Court of Claims;
he | ||||||
19 | was a member of the National
Conference of Black Lawyers, the | ||||||
20 | National Lawyers' Guild (Executive Board, Chicago Chapter), | ||||||
21 | the National
Bar Association, the National Association of | ||||||
22 | Criminal Defense Attorneys, and the National Conference of
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23 | Black Lawyers (Chairperson, Chicago Chapter); he held | ||||||
24 | memberships with several professional
organizations, including |
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1 | Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the NAACP (Life Member), 500 Black | ||||||
2 | Men (Founder of
Chicago Chapter), Black Men's Forum, and the | ||||||
3 | American Historical Association; he was the recipient of many | ||||||
4 | accolades and awards; he was listed in several
Who's Who | ||||||
5 | publications and was recognized as one of the most influential | ||||||
6 | African Americans in the United
States in various national | ||||||
7 | publications; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Lewis Myers is survived by his wife, Celestine | ||||||
9 | Narcisse-Myers, and his son, Lewis Myers III; therefore, be it
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10 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | ||||||
11 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | ||||||
12 | Lewis Myers Jr., and extend our sincere condolences to his | ||||||
13 | family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | ||||||
14 | further
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15 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
16 | presented to the family of Lewis Myers as an expression of our | ||||||
17 | deepest sympathy.
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