Hazel M. Johnson Memorial Stamp Act
Bill: H.R.673 | Sponsor: Rep. Rush, Bobby L. (D-IL)
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
Hazel M. Johnson Memorial Stamp Act
This bill requires the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Hazel M. Johnson, who was known as the mother of the environmental justice movement.

To provide for the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp in honor 
              of Hazel M. Johnson, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Hazel M. Johnson Memorial Stamp 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Hazel Johnson fought for environmental justice in 
        Chicago beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the rest 
        of her life.
            (2) When Johnson discovered that the South Side of Chicago 
        had the highest cancer rate of any area in Chicago, she was 
        inspired to investigate the cancer rates, foul odors, and 
        number of children with respiratory illnesses in her own 
        neighborhood, the community of Altgeld Gardens on the South 
        Side of Chicago.
            (3) Johnson discovered her community, Altgeld Gardens, 
        which is a public housing project, was built on a landfill 
        surrounded by toxicity, which polluted the air, water, and 
        land.
            (4) Additionally, the Altgeld Gardens homes had asbestos 
        and elevated lead levels.
            (5) This discovery inspired Johnson to create the People 
        for Community Recovery, an organization which fights for a 
        safer environment.
            (6) Johnson and the People for Community Recovery fought to 
        educate and empower the residents of Altgeld Gardens, including 
        providing workshops and trainings, conducting health surveys, 
        rallying residents to protest contamination, and working with 
        youth in the community.
            (7) The People for Community Recovery put pressure on the 
        Chicago Housing Authority to remove asbestos from Altgeld 
        Gardens.
            (8) Johnson's fight for clean water led to the installation 
        of water and sewer lines by city health officials in the far 
        South Side neighborhood of Maryland Manor, where the existing 
        well water was contaminated with cyanide and other toxins.
            (9) Johnson used her vigilance and activism to give low-
        income minority communities a voice and a stake in the 
        environmental justice fight by bringing the conversation to 
        personal, immediate, and urgent concerns which directly impact 
        communities inhabited by people of color.
            (10) Johnson also strove to hold both businesses and the 
        government responsible for how their actions impact the 
        environment.
            (11) Johnson was given the 1992 President's Environment and 
        Conservation Challenge Award in recognition of her 
        environmental justice work.
            (12) Notably, Johnson was instrumental in pressuring 
        President Bill Clinton to sign the Environmental Justice 
        Executive Order, which holds the Federal Government accountable 
        for urban communities exposed to pollution.
            (13) In 2004, sociologist David Naguib Pellow credited 
        Johnson and the People for Community Recovery with putting 
        ``the South Side of Chicago on the radar screen for activists 
        and policy makers around the United States who are concerned 
        about environmental racism''.
            (14) On January 12, 2011, the Illinois General Assembly, by 
        way of a House Joint Resolution, designated ``the portion of 
        130th Street from the Bishop Ford Freeway to State Street in 
        Chicago as the `Hazel Johnson EJ Way'''.
            (15) Johnson was a visionary, who was able to foresee the 
        impacts of failing to address environmental and social justice 
        conditions.
            (16) Johnson's work earned her the title of ``mother of the 
        environmental justice movement''.

SEC. 3. HAZEL M. JOHNSON COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP.

    (a) In General.--The Postmaster General shall issue a commemorative 
postage stamp in honor of Hazel M. Johnson.
    (b) Denomination; Designs.--The commemorative postage stamp issued 
under this Act shall be issued in the denomination used for first class 
mail up to one ounce in weight and shall bear such designs as the 
Postmaster General shall determine.
    (c) Issuance Period.--The commemorative postage stamp issued under 
this Act shall be placed on sale as soon as practicable after the date 
of the enactment of this Act and shall be sold for such period 
thereafter as the Postmaster General shall determine.
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