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2017 SESSION


HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 298
Commending the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 20, 2017

 

WHEREAS, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was established on February 14, 1957, shortly following the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, and others; and

WHEREAS, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), with its national headquarters based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a nationwide organization made up of chapters and affiliates, with programs that affect the lives of all Americans, transcending racial, economic, and class lines in the United States and beyond its borders; and

WHEREAS, the SCLC, a nonprofit, nonsectarian, interfaith advocacy movement organization, was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended legal segregation and which has been amended by the United States Congress to extend the protections of the law to disabled Americans, the elderly, and women in collegiate athletics programs; and

WHEREAS, on January 15, 2017, the Virginia State Unit of the SCLC hosted the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade and March and celebrations honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will continue through March 2017; events in past years have included conferences, banquets, and the Andrew Shannon Gospel Music Celebration, which featured special guest speakers, including family members of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., all on the historic campus of Hampton University; and

WHEREAS, the SCLC continues the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and has made it a priority to demonstrate a commitment to strive for transparency and to ensure that all citizens are treated with the utmost fairness and equality; and

WHEREAS, the SCLC is committed to nonviolent action to achieve social, economic, and political justice, believing in the oneness of the human family and the efficacy of love in human relations; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Southern Christian Leadership Conference hereby be commended for its work to achieve tolerance and social justice on the occasion of its 60th anniversary; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare copies of this resolution for presentation to the Reverend William A. Keen and Andrew Shannon, the president and vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Virginia State Unit, as an expression of the House of Delegates’ admiration for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s noble mission.