Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The speaker of the Illinois House was in the Oval Office Friday, when President Biden declared the 1908 race riot site in Springfield to be a national monument.
Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside) said the designation comes at the right time by the right president. “There is a movement in this country by the other side, led by a former president, to erase history. I think it’s important, as the President said, that we remember these things to know where we’ve been, to know where we are going, and to know where we need to continue to go in this country,” said Welch. “What happened in 1908 should never be forgotten, and by the President putting his signature on that proclamation, it never will.”
Welch said he was one of about twenty people in the Oval Office to watch the President sign his name.
“It was truly an honor to be there in the presence of a president as he made yet another historic movement for race relations in this country,” said the speaker.
The riot resulted in the deaths of at least seventeen people and the creation of the NAACP.
