* C-SPAN…
* Reuters…
President Joe Biden on Friday designated a national monument to commemorate a 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, that left several people dead, hundreds injured and destroyed dozens of Black-owned businesses and homes. […]
A ceremony held on Friday in the Oval Office featured civil rights leaders and community leaders from Springfield, which is also former President Abraham Lincoln’s hometown.
“We’ve made a lot of progress but we can’t never stop,” Biden said during the event, adding that it was important for people to remember what had happened. […]
“The new national monument will tell the story of a horrific attack by a white mob on a Black community that was representative of the racism, intimidation, and violence that Black Americans experienced across the country,” the White House said in a statement.
* NPR…
The events in Springfield — the hometown of President Abraham Lincoln — were spurred by the July 1908 murder of a white resident, allegedly at the hands of a Black man. Tensions worsened a month later when another Black man was accused of raping a white woman.
The alleged rape victim later admitted to lying to cover up a consensual affair she was having with a white man.
In August, a white mob of thousands terrorized the city’s 2,500 Black residents. Citizens were attacked and brutalized, and the riots resulted in the arson of dozens of Black-owned homes and businesses. Parts of the rampage took place just a few blocks from Lincoln’s family home. […]
“One of the really shocking things about the well-publicized Springfield race riot — and its association with Abraham Lincoln — was that the North had a race problem,” Senechal de la Roche told NPR in 2008.
The crimes against the city’s Black residents so horrified Black people across the country that it inspired the formation of the NAACP, which remains in existence today.
* An excerpt of the 2008 story from NPR…
As many as 1,000 people marched to the black business district and destroyed and looted virtually every black business downtown. The crowd moved to a nearby, very large, working-class and poor African-American neighborhood, where most blacks had either hidden themselves or left town.
The white mob “went from one end to the other looting homes, damaging homes and ultimately setting them on fire. By the time they were through, they’d displaced at least 40 families,” Senechal de la Roche says. The state militia arrived and found the mob preparing to lynch a black barber.
On the second day of rioting, the rioters began targeting high-status African-Americans. The mob’s first target was an 80-year-old retired cobbler and real estate dealer named William Donnegan. An excerpt from In Lincoln’s Shadow describes the crowd’s horrific actions:
The old man was dragged outside to the front yard and beaten with bricks torn up from the sidewalk. One rioter produced a razor and cut Donnegan’s throat. Dragging the dying man to the street, the rioters tied a small cotton clothesline around his neck and tried to hoist him to the limb of a small maple tree in front of the school across the street. When the militia and police arrived, most of the crowd had already fled, and the authorities could do nothing but cut William Donnegan down and carry him off.
Senechal de la Roche says Springfield residents resorted to this level of violence to avenge the two alleged victims and, because the “largely working-class rioters were expressing resentment over visible black success and influence in the community.”
* Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum…
* WAND…
The monument will be located at the uncovered site of the race riot. The announcement came after several actions by community members and organizations to push for national recognition of the site.
“It’s important to educate the current generation as well as future generations, and this monument will stand alongside Lincoln and everything about Lincoln,” said Ken Page, President of the Springfield chapter of the ACLU and member of the 1908 Race Riot Monument Committee. “So maybe Springfield will eventually live up to Lincoln’s legacy of equality, justice, and all those other things.”
The monument will have national impacts as well, as it is the first time the site of a lynching has been memorialized, according to Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (IL-13). She says it’s important that we recognize the bad parts of our history.
“We’re going to honor our history, which is often a complicated history, a dark history, but that we’re going to honor it and tell it truthfully, and we’re going to look forward, and that we have a lot of work to do,” said Budzinski. “We must tell the story, tell the truth, tell the history of our community. And again, it’s about the progress that we still need to make.”
…Adding… Sen. Tammy Duckworth…
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today joined President Joe Biden in the Oval Office for the President’s signing ceremony to officially declare the 1908 Springfield Race Riot Site as a national monument to be managed by the U.S. National Park Service through an Antiquities Act proclamation. Duckworth has been a steadfast leader in securing national monument recognition for the 1908 Springfield Race Riot Site, a critical event in American history that spurred the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). With less than a quarter of National Parks devoted to recognizing the histories of diverse peoples and cultures, designating the 1908 Race Riot Site a national monument will help guarantee that public lands reflect the diversity of our country.
“The 1908 Springfield Race Riot site is of extraordinary cultural and historical importance to our state and to this country—a searing, horrific incident that galvanized the creation of the NAACP,” Duckworth said. “I’ve been working for years to designate this site as a national monument to help ensure the painful lessons learned here will not be lost for the generations of Americans to come. I’m proud that President Biden took action to help ensure this history is properly honored and making our national parks better reflect our nation’s people and stories.”
116 years ago this week, a violent mob of white residents murdered at least six Black Americans, burned down Black homes and businesses and attacked hundreds of residents for no other reason than the color of their skin. Duckworth began calling for national monument recognition in 2018, first leading the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument Act, with U.S Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), in 2019 and again in 2021. Last year they re-introduced the legislation, which was reported favorably out of committee, with U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13) introducing companion legislation in the House.
During an excavation as part of the Springfield High Speed Rail project, foundations and artifacts from homes destroyed during the riot were uncovered. An agreement with community members was reached in 2018 to excavate the remains and designate the uncovered site a memorial.
Duckworth has made elevating disenfranchised communities and their stories one of her main priorities while in Congress. Last year, after continued efforts from Duckworth, the Biden Administration designated the church that held Emmett Till’s pivotal open-casket wake in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood as a national monument. Duckworth’s leadership was critical in the site designation, originally introducing the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley, and Roberts Temple National Historic Site Act in 2021 and again in 2023.
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* SJ-R…
On July 31, the Democratic governor [JB Pritzker] signed into law legislation limiting employers’ use of “captive audience” meetings where employees are effectively forced to listen to the political or religious views of their boss.
The “Worker Freedom of Speech Act” goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, and does not prohibit businesses from holding these meetings, but rather prevents employers from punishing workers if they choose not to attend them. Illinois became the eighth state, joining states like New York and Minnesota, to pass such a law.
The Illinois Policy Institute argue in their federal suit filed last week that the new law infringes the freedom of speech rights of employers and claim the law is too broad — leaving more companies liable to penalties. Under the new law, the Illinois Department of Labor can issue $1,000 fines per violation and employees can sue.
Some employers, such as political organizations and not-for-organizations with 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), and 501(c)(6) IRS designations, are exempt. The Illinois Policy Institute is a 501(c)(3) and is therefore subject to the law alongside churches and traditional charities.
* From the IPI’s lawsuit…
Plaintiff Illinois Policy Institute (“the Institute”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that engages in research related to public policy from a perspective that favors, among other things, civil and personal liberties; effective, efficient, honest, and transparent government; limited government; free markets; and workers’ freedom to choose whether to join a labor union.
The Institute regularly conducts mandatory staff meetings at which the organization’s views on questions of public policy are expressed.
The Act now makes those meetings unlawful.
This restriction on the Institute’s ability to speak to its employees about the very subject matter of the organization’s mission violates the Institute’s right to free speech under the First Amendment. […]
In effect, the Act bans the Institute from communicating with its employees during mandatory meetings about “proposals to change legislation, proposals to change regulations, [and] proposals to change public policy”—even though creating such proposals is one of the principal purposes of the Institute.
The Institute is a research organization that publishes policy research on a variety of political topics, including the state budget, jobs, labor, pensions, education, and criminal justice. […]
At the mandatory meetings and mandatory retreats, the Institute has discussed topics such as the Workers’ Rights Amendment, the proposed real estate transfer tax in Chicago, and the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarships.
They’re essentially arguing that the law is a content-based restriction of employer’s speech, and therefore violates the 1st Amendment.
* From the law’s definition section…
“Political matters” means matters relating to elections for political office, political parties, proposals to change legislation, proposals to change regulations, proposals to change public policy, and the decision to join or support any political party or political, civic, community, fraternal, or labor organization.
* From Littler, a pro-employer labor law firm…
Recent state laws similar to SB 3649 have faced legal challenges, and it is anticipated that such laws will likely be struck down in the end, even if the U.S. Supreme Court has to swing the final axe. For example, in New York, a New York District Court enjoined enforcement of legislation limiting employer speech during organizing campaigns. There, the District Court granted a temporary restraining order on the grounds that the legislation as written was facially invalid because it violated the First Amendment in constituting “a viewpoint-based law that discriminates against speech based on the ideas or opinions conveyed.”
Further, Section 8(c) of the National Labor Relations Act provides specific protection for employer speech, stating that “[t]he expressing of any views, argument, or opinion . . . shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor practice . . . if such expression contains no threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit.” Consequently, SB 3649 may also face challenges on the grounds that it is preempted, insofar as it is contrary to Section 8(c) and interferes with national labor policy (an argument Littler successfully made in Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce almost 15 years ago). In light of the unresolved questions about the legality of SB 3649, employers are forced to choose whether to comply or challenge the new law on constitutional grounds, including federal preemption and First Amendment concerns.
The broader point aside, it’s odd that they didn’t exempt 501(c)(3) organizations.
…Adding… Some union officials I talked with this afternoon claim that IPI is actually exempt and point to this section of the law…
Nothing in this Act… limits the rights of an employer or its agent, representative, or designee from communicating to its employees any information that is necessary for the employees to perform their required job duties
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* SJ-R Reporter Patrick Keck…
* Sheriff Campbell’s full statement…
I was first elected Sheriff in 2018. I embraced that role, to lead SCSO, but I always saw myself as a cop, not a politician. And for over thirty years, my career has been dedicated to improving and protecting our community. As Sheriff, I have committed my life to advancing our capabilities and effectiveness, implementing new policies and practices to ensure we serve the community with the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. All this was done with the idea of creating a safer Sangamon County.
The tragic death of Sonya Massey has been a heartbreaking event for our community. My deepest condolences go out to her family and friends. Since the incident, I have been proactive and transparent, working tirelessly to present all of the facts to the public. I have committed to making changes to our standards and collaborating with other units of government on ways to prevent incidents like this in the future. The one person truly responsible for this act is in jail, and I believe justice will be served through the legal process.
Despite these efforts, some in our community want me to pay the price for that person’s actions, even threatening that I pay that price with my life, my family’s lives, or the lives of my Deputies. We will only persevere together as a community if we turn down the temperature and resolve to do better. We must honor the life of Sonya Massey by ensuring that no one else falls victim to such tragic and senseless action. That has been my sincere mission since that fateful day. But it has become clear that the current political climate has made it nearly impossible for me to continue effectively in my role. Some individuals would rather see our community divided and in turmoil, than allow me to continue serving as Sheriff. The health of me and my family, the Sheriff’s Office, and our community has to be my priority.
As elected leaders, we must always put the overall good of the community above ourselves; and I will not risk the community that I swore to protect. For this reason, I am announcing my retirement as Sheriff of Sangamon County, effective no later than August 31st.
While it is painful to say goodbye, I do so knowing I have fulfilled my duties and served to the best of my ability. I want to express my deepest gratitude to the citizens who have supported me throughout the years. I am forever grateful for the opportunity I had, for the people I met and for this Office that I love.
…Adding… WAND reporter Caryn Eisert…
…Adding… Governor’s office…
The Governor hopes a fresh start with new leadership will usher in a new era of reform and rebuild the trust lost between the Sangamon County community and the Sheriff’s Office.
* WCIA…
Famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Sonya Massey’s family, has issued a statement on Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell’s resignation.
“The retirement of Sheriff Jack Campbell marks a turning point in the ongoing pursuit of justice for Sonya Massey,” Crump said. “Although the pain of her loss is still fresh, Sonya’s family is willing to work with the outgoing sheriff for the remainder of his tenure to help heal the community and achieve full justice for Sonya. The Massey family also hopes to work with Sangamon County’s next sheriff to examine how this tragedy happened and to ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again in this community.”
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