By:  Price                                            H.C.R. No. 81
       73R6400 JLZ-F
                                 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, The friendship and commerce program in the form of
    1-2  the sister city concept was inaugurated by the president of the
    1-3  United States in 1956 to promote greater friendship and
    1-4  understanding between the people of the United States and other
    1-5  nations through the medium of direct personal contact; and
    1-6        WHEREAS, All succeeding United States presidents have
    1-7  endorsed this program, which promulgates the useful exchange of
    1-8  ideas between the citizens of this state, the United States, and
    1-9  the people of other nations; and
   1-10        WHEREAS, The people of the Republic of Ghana and the people
   1-11  of Texas historically have made similar sacrifices for the sake of
   1-12  political liberty; they also have in common a reputation for hard
   1-13  work and industry that have made their respective countries
   1-14  well-established trading entities within their respective
   1-15  hemispheres; and
   1-16        WHEREAS, Echoing our own historical struggle for independence
   1-17  and our dedication to ensuring civil rights and liberties for all
   1-18  citizens, Ghana led the way for other African nations in their
   1-19  fight to secure freedom from European colonialism when it won its
   1-20  independence from England in 1957 and since then has remained at
   1-21  the forefront of the international Pan-African movement; and
   1-22        WHEREAS, The links between our two countries go beyond the
   1-23  historical parallels and extend to the personal level; Kwame
   1-24  Nkrumah, the first leader of independent Ghana, was a graduate of
    2-1  Lincoln University, a historic Black institution in Pennsylvania
    2-2  that for more than a century has produced some of the African and
    2-3  African-American communities' most outstanding leaders, including
    2-4  two African heads of state, Kwame Nkrumah and Nigeria's Nnamdi
    2-5  Azikiwe; and
    2-6        WHEREAS, The American civil rights struggle and the
    2-7  Pan-African movement also share a common history as leading African
    2-8  and African-American intellectuals and activists throughout the
    2-9  20th century contributed important ideas and provided the
   2-10  philosophical underpinnings for the two movements' records of
   2-11  accomplishment; and
   2-12        WHEREAS, Ghanaians recently erected a monument honoring three
   2-13  key individuals who have come to be regarded as the Fathers of
   2-14  Pan-Africanism:  the African-American activist W. E. B. Dubois,
   2-15  George Padmore of Trinidad, and Ghana's own Kwame Nkrumah; erected
   2-16  in the capital city of Accra, this monument is a tribute not only
   2-17  to these three men but to all of the people from the African
   2-18  Diaspora who have dedicated their lives to achieving independence,
   2-19  individual liberty, and a recognition of the human dignity of all
   2-20  races; and
   2-21        WHEREAS, The connections between the Republic of Ghana and
   2-22  the State of Texas were further emphasized during the 1993 Sweatt
   2-23  Symposium, which presented the African-American struggle for
   2-24  freedom and racial equality as part of this larger Pan-African
   2-25  struggle for human rights for all peoples of Africa and African
   2-26  descent; the historical and cultural kinship between the two
   2-27  peoples formed the basis for a fascinating presentation entitled
    3-1  "From Ghana to Texas"; and
    3-2        WHEREAS, Building on the traditions of the past, a friendship
    3-3  and commerce relationship between the Republic of Ghana and the
    3-4  State of Texas is in the best interest of both peoples and will
    3-5  greatly contribute to the continued growth and prosperity of all
    3-6  parties in this partnership; now, therefore, be it
    3-7        RESOLVED, That the 73rd Legislature of the State of Texas
    3-8  hereby invite the people of the Republic of Ghana to join Texas in
    3-9  friendship and commerce and to conduct together with this state
   3-10  mutually beneficial social, economic, educational, and cultural
   3-11  programs in order to bring our citizens closer together and
   3-12  strengthen international understanding and goodwill; and, be it
   3-13  further
   3-14        RESOLVED, That official copies of this resolution be prepared
   3-15  and forwarded to His Excellency, the Honorable Kofi Awoonor,
   3-16  Ghana's permanent representative and ambassador to the United
   3-17  Nations, and the Honorable Mohamed Ben-Abdullah, Minister of
   3-18  Culture, and for the government of the Republic of Ghana as an
   3-19  expression of the sentiment of the Texas Legislature.