H.R. No. 2241R E S O L U T I O N WHEREAS, The Crystal City student walkout, during the winter of 1969-1970, stands as one of the most successful Chicano boycotts in the history of the Southwest; and WHEREAS, Beginning in the spring of 1969, Chicano students at Crystal City High School began to present school authorities and the school board with a series of demands intended to redress a long history of discriminatory practices against Chicano students; on December 9, 1969, after the school board had repeatedly resisted dealing with the majority of the students' grievances, a number of Chicano students at the high school began a well-organized boycott of their classes; led by Severita Lara, Mario Treviño, and Diana Serna, the boycott grew daily and even spread to the junior high and elementary schools; by the time the schools closed for the Christmas holidays, between one-half and two-thirds of all the students in the city's public schools were boycotting their classes; and WHEREAS, The student walkout in Crystal City served as a galvanizing force in organizing the Chicano residents of that town and the surrounding area; the influence of the boycott became manifest not only in the fairer treatment that Chicano students received in the schools of Crystal City but in the dramatic new political power that Chicano citizens came to exercise in certain communities of South Texas; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas Legislature hereby commemorate the 37th anniversary of the Crystal City student walkout and commend all who work to create a more just and inclusive society in the Lone Star State. Alonzo ______________________________ Speaker of the House I certify that H.R. No. 2241 was adopted by the House on May 29, 2005, by a non-record vote. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House