WHEREAS, the recently implemented "zero-tolerance" policy of criminally prosecuting migrants at the United States and Mexico border and taking their children has captured the nation's attention, collective conscience, and outrage; and
WHEREAS, in true American spirit, the policy has also galvanized many to act on behalf of those whose human rights are being downtrodden; and
WHEREAS, evocative of that spirit and an archetype of a dynasty of public servants and champions of the marginalized is the Kennedy family name; and
WHEREAS, Ethel Kennedy, the ninety-year-old widow of Robert F. Kennedy, has joined her voice in protest against the zero-tolerance policy, announcing her plan to participate, along with fifty of her family members, in a hunger strike; and
WHEREAS, the hunger strike, organized in part by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights nonprofit advocacy group, is intended to honor the estimated 2,400 children who have been separated from their parents; and
WHEREAS, whereas, the group has worked to organize 24-hour fasts over 24 days to maintain focus on the plight of the separated families; and
WHEREAS, Kerry Kennedy, the organization's head and daughter of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy, announced the fast alongside social justice crusader Dolores Huerta in front of a half-century old photo of the late Robert F. Kennedy fasting with Cesar Chavez; and
WHEREAS, it is only appropriate that the names and methods coupled in this announcement conjure some of the most noted champions of our civil rights history - as we are again called to order to ensure that we do not fall on the wrong side of it; and
WHEREAS, we the members of this City Council commend Mrs. Kennedy's still-unwavering commitment to social justice and stand steadfast with her and those who share a clear and unrelenting focus on safeguarding all human rights; now, therefore
DaTtiel Solis / Alderman, 25th Ward
Edward M. Burke Alderman, 14th Ward
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO: that the members of this City Council applaud Ethel Kennedy and stand in solidarity with the hunger strike participants, and seek to affirm Robert F. Kennedy's pledge that "those with the courage to enter m^fal conflict will find themselves with companions in every comer of the globeJ^J