IL
Illinois House Bill HR0453

Illinois 2023-2024 Regular Session

Illinois House Bill HR0453 Compare Versions

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44 2 WHEREAS, Slavery provided much of the revenue for the
55 3 young State of Illinois and severed ties between enslaved
66 4 people and their ancestors, resulting in the erasure of family
77 5 histories for both enslaved people and their descendants; and
88 6 WHEREAS, The U.S. has a social responsibility and duty
99 7 towards African American descendants of enslaved individuals
1010 8 to provide the public service of assisting Black citizens in
1111 9 reconnecting with their ancestral history; the State of
1212 10 Illinois has an equal responsibility to Black Illinoisans; and
1313 11 WHEREAS, Although Illinois is a northern state, slavery
1414 12 was prevalent within its boundaries before the Northwest
1515 13 Ordinance of 1787, and enslaved individuals still worked the
1616 14 salt springs of the Illinois Salines until 1825; slavery in
1717 15 the Illinois Salines was permitted because it provided as much
1818 16 as a third of the yearly revenue for the young State;
1919 17 indentured servitude at the salt springs continued until 1870;
2020 18 this history of slavery in Illinois deepens the responsibility
2121 19 of the State to assist African American citizens in recovering
2222 20 their lost history; and
2323 21 WHEREAS, Since the first direct-to-consumer genetic
2424 22 ancestry test was pioneered in 2000, technological
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3333 1 capabilities have vastly improved, enabling refined genetic
3434 2 genealogy that can trace ancestral connections over the past
3535 3 500 years; given this advancement in technology, the U.S.,
3636 4 honoring its moral obligation to descendants of enslaved
3737 5 Africans, is now exceptionally positioned to facilitate this
3838 6 reconnection through a genealogy-based pilot program; and
3939 7 WHEREAS, In addition to restoring a sense of personal
4040 8 belonging and ethnic identity, both being critical for
4141 9 psychological well-being, genetic genealogical evidence
4242 10 provides descendants of enslaved African Americans with robust
4343 11 genetic evidentiary support of their African family origins;
4444 12 several African countries, including Ghana, Sierra Leone,
4545 13 Gabon, and Eritrea have begun offering citizenship to
4646 14 individuals who can trace their ancestry back to their
4747 15 respective country, including ancestry traced through genetic
4848 16 genealogy; improvements in genetic genealogical technology
4949 17 provide new found support for the desire expressed by
5050 18 president Abraham Lincoln in the Emancipation Proclamation to
5151 19 establish a voluntary repatriation program for African
5252 20 descendants to return to their African ancestral homelands;
5353 21 and
5454 22 WHEREAS, Nearly all Black Americans can successfully trace
5555 23 their genetic ancestry to one or more African countries;
5656 24 today, there are currently 42 million African American
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6767 1 descendants of those enslaved in the U.S.; the genetic
6868 2 analyses completed in the Genetic Consequences of the
6969 3 Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Americas study by Steven
7070 4 Micheletti and colleagues found that African Americans tend to
7171 5 have ancestry from four main regions in Atlantic Africa,
7272 6 including Nigeria, Senegambia (Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
7373 7 and Senegal), Coastal West Africa (Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cte
7474 8 d'Ivoire, and Liberia), and the Congo region, which includes
7575 9 Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; approximately
7676 10 71% of African American 23andMe research participants had
7777 11 detectable segments of DNA that are identical with current
7878 12 ethnolinguistic groups from all four Atlantic African regions
7979 13 stemming from a common ancestor; as documented by Jazlyn
8080 14 Mooney and her colleagues in their study On the Number of
8181 15 Genealogical Ancestors Tracing to the Source Groups of an
8282 16 Admixed Population, there is a high probability, over 97.5%,
8383 17 that an average African American can trace their ancestry back
8484 18 to at least one African ancestor from each of eight to 12
8585 19 generations ago culminating in an approximate total of 269
8686 20 African ancestors within this timeframe; and
8787 21 WHEREAS, Approximately 15% of Black adults in the U.S.
8888 22 have taken consumer genetic genealogy tests; African Americans
8989 23 should not be economically burdened to obtain information
9090 24 regarding their ancestral history, which was forcibly taken
9191 25 from them through practices of slavery that economically
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102102 1 benefited the growing United States; and
103-2 WHEREAS, Reparations have been granted towards other
104-3 groups residing in the U.S., yet African Americans have never
105-4 been compensated to redress the racial harms enacted upon
106-5 their person during times of slavery; while white slave owners
107-6 were compensated for the emancipation of their slaves,
108-7 enslaved individuals only had access to social support via the
103+2 WHEREAS, Reparations has been granted towards other groups
104+3 residing in the U.S., yet African Americans have never been
105+4 compensated to redress the racial harms enacted upon their
106+5 person during times of slavery; while white slave owners were
107+6 compensated for the emancipation of their slaves, enslaved
108+7 individuals only had access to social support via the
109109 8 Freedmen's Bureau Act of 1865 and 1866, which provided basic
110110 9 needs including food, clothing, and shelter, due to the
111111 10 displacement of southerners after the Civil War; while the
112112 11 Evacuation Claims Act of 1948 and the Civil Liberties Act of
113113 12 1988 paid reparations to Japanese Americans, up to $20,000 per
114114 13 survivor, and the Indian Claims Commission allocates
115115 14 approximately $1,000 per person, enslaved persons of African
116116 15 descent and their descendants have never received monetary
117117 16 compensation for the atrocities committed against them prior
118-17 to the abolition of slavery; this is despite there having been
119-18 over 10 million African Americans human trafficked from their
120-19 families and homeland only to be forced to build the
118+17 to the abolishment of slavery; this is despite there having
119+18 been over 10 million African Americans human trafficked from
120+19 their families and homeland only to be forced to build the
121121 20 infrastructure of America and generate wealth for early white
122122 21 Americans; in 1989, H.R. 40 was introduced to establish a
123123 22 commission to investigate the impacts of enslavement and to
124124 23 evaluate proposals for reparation; though this resolution has
125125 24 been introduced for decades, it has not been passed; and
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136136 1 WHEREAS, It is technologically straightforward and a moral
137137 2 imperative to rectify the erasure of family histories
138138 3 resulting from slavery; it is now possible to establish a
139139 4 family roots genealogy pilot program that can equip
140140 5 descendants of enslaved African Americans with robust genetic
141141 6 evidentiary support of their African family origins; Dr.
142142 7 LaKisha David, an assistant professor at the University of
143143 8 Illinois (U of I) Urbana-Champaign in the Department of
144144 9 Anthropology, is a distinguished expert on reuniting African
145145 10 Americans with long lost kin in Africa through autosomal DNA
146146 11 genetic testing; she is a former postdoctoral fellow of
147147 12 Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Genetics and
148148 13 Genomics at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School
149149 14 of Medicine; she will be the principal investigator in
150150 15 establishing this genealogy-based family roots program; U of
151151 16 I's Department of Anthropology has expressed their commitment
152152 17 to these efforts and interest in ways they can continue to
153153 18 serve both reparative and decolonizing efforts of the State
154154 19 more generally; and
155155 20 WHEREAS, The procedure will begin with the collection of
156156 21 saliva samples that will be processed at The Illinois Roy J.
157157 22 Carver Biotechnology Center, situated in Urbana, pending
158158 23 appropriation funding; once the processing is completed, the
159159 24 saliva samples will be securely destroyed; the resulting data
160-25 will then be transferred to a secure storage and computing
160+25 will then be transferred to Nightingale, a high-performance
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171-1 environment that adheres to the Health Insurance Portability
172-2 and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) regulations; the sample
173-3 will be accompanied by a unique identifying code rather than
174-4 participants' personal information; nongenetic data for this
175-5 project will be stored in facilities that meet requirements
176-6 established by HIPAA; participants logging in will receive
177-7 results that are hosted on a HIPAA-compliant platform; for the
178-8 protection of all participants, DNA samples collected may not
179-9 be subjected for subpoenas or accessed for any other purposes;
180-10 and
181-11 WHEREAS, Researchers cannot release or use information,
182-12 documents, or samples that may identify participants in any
183-13 action or suit unless the participant consents; researchers
184-14 also cannot provide data as evidence unless participants have
185-15 agreed; this protection includes federal, state, local, civil,
186-16 criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceedings;
187-17 this does not stop participants from willingly releasing
188-18 information about their involvement in this research and does
189-19 not prevent participants from having access to their own
190-20 information; and
191-21 WHEREAS, The U of I at Urbana-Champaign, established as a
192-22 land-grant institution through the Morrill Act of 1862, was
193-23 entrusted with a mission to democratize higher education and
194-24 serve the public interest across Illinois and beyond; despite
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171+1 computer cluster designed for sensitive data that is housed in
172+2 the National Center for Supercomputing (NCSA) at the U of I at
173+3 Urbana Champaign; using Nightingale ensures secure storage and
174+4 provides powerful computation while adhering to the Health
175+5 Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
176+6 regulations; the sample will be accompanied by a unique
177+7 identifying code rather than participants' personal
178+8 information; nongenetic data for this project will be stored
179+9 in the U of I at Urbana-Champaign Research Electronic Data
180+10 Capture (REDCap), a highly secure and robust web-based
181+11 research data collection and management system; Illinois
182+12 REDCap is among the systems and services that meet
183+13 requirements established by HIPAA; participants logging in
184+14 will receive results that are hosted on a HIPAA-compliant
185+15 platform; for the protection of all participants, DNA samples
186+16 collected may not be subjected for subpoenas or accessed for
187+17 any other purposes; and
188+18 WHEREAS, Researchers cannot release or use information,
189+19 documents, or samples that may identify participants in any
190+20 action or suit unless the participant consents; researchers
191+21 also cannot provide data as evidence unless participants have
192+22 agreed; this protection includes federal, state, local, civil,
193+23 criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceedings;
194+24 this does not stop participants from willingly releasing
195+25 information about their involvement in this research and does
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205-1 this intent, U of I's historical record is marked by periods of
206-2 exclusion and insufficient representation of African Americans
207-3 that cast a shadow over its commitment to true inclusivity;
208-4 these specialized centers, backed by the State of Illinois,
209-5 hold the potential to make amends and realign with the
210-6 original vision of the land-grant mission; the centers carry a
211-7 paramount duty to redress past neglect, actively engage with
212-8 the African American community, and to emphasize the profound
213-9 need to reconnect individuals to their ancestral roots;
214-10 through this initiative, the centers have an opportunity, and
215-11 indeed an obligation, to play a transformative role in
216-12 facilitating understanding, reconnection, and healing, and, in
217-13 doing so, work towards rectifying the U of I's historical
218-14 shortcomings in relation to a community with a deeply
219-15 impactful, yet often sidelined, history; therefore, be it
220-16 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
221-17 HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
222-18 we urge support for the Family Roots Genealogy Pilot Program
223-19 as it provides African American descendants of enslaved
224-20 individuals the opportunity to trace their roots back to their
225-21 ancestral homelands, to reconnect with their ancestral
226-22 heritage, and to promote their well-being; and be it further
227-23 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be presented to
228-24 the Family Roots Genealogy Pilot Program as a symbol of our
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206+1 not prevent participants from having access to their own
207+2 information; and
208+3 WHEREAS, The U of I at Urbana-Champaign, established as a
209+4 land-grant institution through the Morrill Act of 1862, was
210+5 entrusted with a mission to democratize higher education and
211+6 serve the public interest across Illinois and beyond; despite
212+7 this intent, U of I's historical record is marked by periods of
213+8 exclusion and insufficient representation of African Americans
214+9 that cast a shadow over its commitment to true inclusivity;
215+10 these specialized centers, backed by the State of Illinois,
216+11 hold the potential to make amends and realign with the
217+12 original vision of the land-grant mission; the centers carry a
218+13 paramount duty to redress past neglect, actively engage with
219+14 the African American community, and to emphasize the profound
220+15 need to reconnect individuals to their ancestral roots;
221+16 through this initiative, the centers have an opportunity, and
222+17 indeed an obligation, to play a transformative role in
223+18 facilitating understanding, reconnection, and healing, and, in
224+19 doing so, work towards rectifying the U of I's historical
225+20 shortcomings in relation to a community with a deeply
226+21 impactful, yet often sidelined, history; therefore, be it
227+22 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
228+23 HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
229+24 we urge support for the Family Roots Genealogy Pilot Program
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240+1 as it provides African American descendants of enslaved
241+2 individuals the opportunity to trace their roots back to their
242+3 ancestral homelands, to reconnect with their ancestral
243+4 heritage, and to promote their well-being; and be it further
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