Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

ENROLLED ORIGINAL

                              A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION

                                            25-233

                   IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

                                          May 7, 2024

To posthumously honor the life and contributions of Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons.

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons was born August 1, 1943 as the third child

of a homemaker and an entrepreneur who was a skilled furniture refinisher;

        WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons was a U.S. Air Force Vietnam era veteran

and social justice activist of Washington, D.C., beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother,

cousin, nephew, and organizer;

        WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons was the inaugural recipient of the Doctor

of Philosophy degree in Revolutionary Theory and Practice from University of Revolution in

August of 2023;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons, during his 8 years of service in the U.S.

Air Force, integrated the crypto service, learned fluent Japanese, modeled, acted in 2 movies,

married, started a family, went to college, and received an honorable discharge and a request

from the military that he not re-enlist;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons joined the Black Panther Party outspoken

on radio and television in opposition to the Vietnam War;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons founded the Rubicon Door, a successful

residential drug treatment program in his hometown of Norfolk, with a 1.5% recidivism rate,

employing a program of intensive political education as key to its recidivism program;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons founded P.E.O.P.L.E., Inc., a

commune/community group that educated and fed residents in large public gatherings that

coupled education and musical concerts with social services access and outreach;

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       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons worked and traveled with the U.S.-China

Peoples Friendship Association to normalize relations;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons worked with the Revolutionary

Union/Revolutionary Communist Party (RU/RCP) to fight for a just society in the U.S. and the

world and end the exploitation of workers and other living beings;

        WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons became active in and served as the

Business Manager for the Gray Panthers of Metropolitan Washington where he helped found

Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee of D.C., travelled to Japan to the World Conference

Against the A and H Bombs and fought to end war and against the proliferation of nuclear power

while stressing the need to ally with people to meet their needs for housing, food, medical care,

education, health care, justice;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons was known for sharing his artistry through

his impeccable attire, his thrift store shop-a-holic adventures, creatively sharing his educational

acumen and organizing prowess, his love and advocacy for people, justice, his family, and

especially his class, the working class;

        WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons was guest speaker over the years, along

with his wife Michele, on the ASK WELFARE RIGHTS broadcast where they would report on

political trends that affected life in D.C. as “on-the-spot” news reporters who made the listening

audience aware of politics in D.C. using skills honed in part during their time on WOL’s Political

Power Hour;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons his wife Michele organized conferences

and authored political papers, narratives, conference books, and were both founding and/or

active members of the National Welfare Rights Union, the Gray Panthers of Metropolitan

Washington, the Green Party Black Caucus, the Julius Kambarage Nyerere Commemoration;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons and his wife Michele were active in the

movement for D.C. Statehood as active members of the D.C. Statehood Party and later the

Statehood Green Party, each serving on its Central Committee and running for political office;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons was a professor of Black History,

personally and professionally, for many years, as well as a devoted adult educator and organizer;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons and his wife Michele, for the 25 years

preceding the pandemic, annually hosted a 7-day open house and feast, to celebrate all 7 days

and principles of Kwanzaa;

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       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons and his wife Michele recently completed a

publication on Genocide as board members of National Welfare Rights Union;

      WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons played semi-pro football with the Brown

Bombers of Norfolk, and sang with Voices by the Sea, a chorale group that performed in the

Tidewater and East Coast region;

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons passed away on Wednesday, February 7,

2024; and

       WHEREAS, Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons is remembered for his unending,

unyielding struggles to secure justice for and with the working class.

        RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this

resolution may be cited as the “Richard Lee Tingling-Clemmons Recognition Resolution of

2024”.

       Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia remembers the life of Richard Lee

Tingling-Clemmons.

       Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately.

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