Pennsylvania SR 283: A Resolution designating the month of April 2022 as "Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month" in Pennsylvania to promote public awareness of the Sikh faith and recognize the important contributions of the Sikh community.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 1635
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No. 283
Session of
2026
INTRODUCED BY STREET, HAYWOOD, KANE, SANTARSIERO, HUGHES, SAVAL,
PISCIOTTANO, LAUGHLIN, KIM, COLLETT, SCHWANK, TARTAGLIONE,
KEARNEY, COMITTA, CULVER, FONTANA, CAPPELLETTI, L. WILLIAMS,
BOSCOLA, COSTA AND VOGEL, APRIL 23, 2026
REFERRED TO RULES AND EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS, APRIL 23, 2026
A RESOLUTION
Honoring the life and legacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson.
WHEREAS, Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns) was born October 8,
1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, to Helen Burns and Noah
Louis Robinson in the Jim Crow South; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson attended North Carolina A&T State
University, graduating in 1964 with a bachelor of science in
sociology; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson played quarterback while at North
Carolina A&T and served as student body president; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson was ordained a minister in 1968
after attending the Chicago Theological Seminary; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson left the Chicago Theological
Seminary a few courses short of graduating to focus full time on
civil rights activism but was awarded a Master of Divinity
degree by the Chicago Theological Seminary in 2000 to honor his
life's work; and
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WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson began his life of activism in 1960
with a sit-in at his hometown Greenville Public Library, which
only allowed white people to enter; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson worked closely with Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., on the Selma to Montgomery marches and
in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), being
charged with leading SCLC's Chicago chapter; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson was the national director of
Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of SCLC; and
WHEREAS, Operation Breadbasket began as a job placement
agency for Black Americans, but under Jackson's leadership,
expanded to organizing boycotts of white-owned businesses to
increase their hiring of black workers; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson was present at Martin Luther King,
Jr.'s, assassination in 1968 but continued his legacy working to
organize SCLC's Poor People's Crusade in Washington, DC; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson also organized the Black Expo in
Chicago in 1971, highlighting Black businesspeople as an
economic engine; and
WHEREAS, In 1971, Reverend Jackson established People United
to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH) to build power for economic
and social justice; and
WHEREAS, Eventually, Operation PUSH merged with the Rainbow
Coalition, another organization Reverend Jackson founded in 1984
that raised awareness of sociopolitical issues, including social
programs, voting rights and affirmative action; and
WHEREAS, Rainbow Coalition/Operation PUSH brought 1960s-style
organizing to combat the social conditions of the post-Civil
Rights era 1980s and 1990s; and
WHEREAS, In 1972, Reverend Jackson was a critical leader at
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the head of the National Black Political Convention, or the Gary
Convention, which convened thousands of Black political actors
and elected officials across the ideological spectrum to forge a
"Black Agenda"; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson's participation at the Gary
Convention, operating at the height of the Black Power era, was
to push for politics independent of the major parties, which he
insisted upon even as he engaged in mainstream Democratic Party
politics; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson's social activism led him to a long
political career, including two Presidential campaigns in 1984
and 1988 that continue to influence presidential campaigning and
progressive politics to this day; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson was a Democratic Party pillar for
the rest of his life, lending support to other candidates and
issues, including universal health care, progressive taxation,
reductions in defense spending, increases in social services,
ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, LGBTQ+ rights and more;
and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson's advocacy extended abroad; and
WHEREAS, Through negotiations with various heads of state,
Reverend Jackson secured the release of dozens of American
citizens held in Syria, Cuba, Iraq and Serbia; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson was a long-time peace activist,
supporting anti-apartheid efforts in South Africa and anti-war
efforts in Iraq, Northern Ireland and Gaza; and
WHEREAS, Even Reverend Jackson's political organizing spanned
borders and, in 2005, he helped register Black British voters in
the United Kingdom who had historically been underrepresented in
the nation's politics; and
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WHEREAS, Reverend Jesse Jackson departed this earthly realm
on February 17, 2026, but continues to inspire generations of
activists to come; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Jackson's work bridged the eras of the
Southern Christian Lead