H.R. No. 765
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, A postage stamp honoring Cesar E. Chavez, one of
America's foremost champions of social justice, is being issued by
the United States Postal Service on April 23, 2003; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Chavez gained national renown as a founder and
longtime leader of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO,
whose mission has fused advocacy for farm laborers with activism
for civil rights; and
WHEREAS, Born March 31, 1927, near Yuma, Arizona, and later
raised in California, Mr. Chavez spent much of his youth as a
migrant laborer; as a Latino and a farmworker, he learned firsthand
about the indignities of second-class citizenship and the unhealthy
working and living conditions endured by those who tended the
fields; and
WHEREAS, After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946,
Cesar Chavez returned to California, and in 1948 he married Helen
Fabela; four years later he became a community organizer for the
Community Service Organization (CSO), a Latino civil rights group
that focused most of its work in urban areas, and by the late 1950s
he had become its national director; and
WHEREAS, When in 1962 the CSO declined to organize California
farmworkers, Mr. Chavez and his colleague Dolores Huerta left the
organization to found the National Farm Workers Association, a
forerunner of the UFW; their fledgling union gained national
prominence just three years later when it came to the support of
workers who were striking California's grape growers; in addition
to assuming leadership of the strike, Mr. Chavez launched a
successful, nationwide consumers' boycott of nonunion grapes; and
WHEREAS, By the end of the five-year-long strike, the UFW had
organized all of the California table-grape industry and negotiated
the first collective bargaining agreements between American
farmworkers and corporations; in 1975 Cesar Chavez and the UFW
further succeeded in securing the passage of California's
Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first law in U.S. history
granting farmworkers the right to unionize and bargain
collectively; numerous other achievements gained under his
leadership included the establishment of a farmworkers' medical
plan, pension plan, and credit union, as well as the National Farm
Workers Service Center, Inc., whose projects include the
development of affordable housing, health clinics, cooperatives,
and a retirement home; and
WHEREAS, Throughout his life, Cesar Chavez sought to advance
La Causa, the movement, through nonviolent means--through strikes,
pickets, and boycotts; on several occasions he also undertook
lengthy fasts to draw public attention to the farmworkers'
struggle; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Chavez continued to lead the UFW until his death
on April 23, 1993; more than 50,000 people from across the country
gathered to mourn him at his funeral, indicative of the
far-reaching impact he had made on American society; and
WHEREAS, Since that time, numerous schools, streets,
scholarships, monuments, buildings, and parks have been named in
his memory, a number of U.S. cities have initiated annual
celebrations in tribute to his life, and several states, including
Texas, have declared his birthday, March 31, a state holiday; in
1994 Mr. Chavez was posthumously awarded the nation's highest
honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and
WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez chose to devote his life to the pursuit
of social and economic justice through nonviolent means, and his
courage and steadfastness in this great work brought improved
health, greater security, and hope for a brighter future to
countless people; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 78th Texas
Legislature hereby commemorate the issuance of the Cesar E. Chavez
stamp by the U.S. Postal Service and join in honoring the life of
this revered American.
Chavez
Alonzo
Garza
Hodge
Wise
Craddick Giddings Merritt
Allen Goodman Miller
Alonzo Goolsby Moreno of Harris
Bailey Griggs Moreno of El Paso
Baxter Grusendorf Morrison
Berman Guillen Mowery
Bohac Gutierrez Naishtat
Bonnen Haggerty Nixon
Branch Hamilton Noriega
Brown of Kaufman Hamric Oliveira
Brown of Brazos Hardcastle Olivo
Burnam Harper-Brown Paxton
Callegari Hartnett Pena
Campbell Heflin Phillips
Canales Hegar Pickett
Capelo Hilderbran Pitts
Casteel Hill Puente
Castro Hochberg Quintanilla
Chavez Hodge Raymond
Chisum Homer Reyna
Christian Hope Riddle
Coleman Hopson Ritter
Cook of Navarro Howard Rodriguez
Cook of Colorado Hughes Rose
Corte Hunter Seaman
Crabb Hupp Smith of Tarrant
Crownover Isett Smith of Harris
Davis of Harris Jones of Lubbock Smithee
Davis of Dallas Jones of Bexar Solis
Dawson Jones of Dallas Solomons
Delisi Keel Stick
Denny Keffer of Dallas Swinford
Deshotel Keffer of Eastland Talton
Driver King Taylor
Dukes Kolkhorst Telford
Dunnam Krusee Thompson
Dutton Kuempel Truitt
Edwards Laney Turner
Eiland Laubenberg Uresti
Eissler Lewis Van Arsdale
Elkins Luna Villarreal
Ellis Mabry West
Farabee Madden Wilson
Farrar Marchant Wise
Flores Martinez Fischer Wohlgemuth
Flynn McCall Wolens
Gallego McClendon Wong
Garza McReynolds Woolley
Gattis Menendez Zedler
Geren Mercer
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 765 was adopted by the House on April
24, 2003, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House