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79R19915 MW-D

By:  Alonzo                                                       H.R. No. 2243



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, A passionate advocate for social justice and civil 
rights for the poor and disenfranchised, Cesar Chavez was a true 
American hero, and the anniversary of his birth on March 31 provides 
a fitting opportunity to remember and honor his many contributions; 
and
	WHEREAS, Born in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona, Cesar Chavez was 10 
years old when his family lost their farm in the Great Depression 
and became migrant farmworkers; throughout his youth and into his 
adulthood, Mr. Chavez traveled across the Southwest, laboring in 
the fields and vineyards and attending more than 30 different 
schools by the time he was in the eighth grade; and
	WHEREAS, After serving in the U.S. Navy for two years, he 
returned home to marry Helen Fabela, whom he had met while working 
in the vineyards of central California; settling with his wife in 
the East San Jose barrio of Sal Si Puedes, he returned to farming to 
support his young family; and
	WHEREAS, Witnessing firsthand the hardships and injustices 
of farmworker life, Mr. Chavez joined the Community Service 
Organization, a prominent Latino civil rights group, in 1952; while 
with the CSO, he coordinated voter registration drives and 
conducted campaigns against racial and economic discrimination; in 
the late 1950s and early 1960s, he served as the CSO's national 
director; and
	WHEREAS, Determined to create an organization that would 
protect and serve farmworkers, he resigned from the CSO in 1962, 
leaving the security of a regular paycheck, and moved with his wife 
and eight children to Delano, where he founded the first successful 
farmworkers union in American history; originally called the 
National Farm Workers Association, the organization later became 
known as the United Farm Workers of America; and
	WHEREAS, For more than three decades, Mr. Chavez led this 
groundbreaking organization by effecting change through peaceful 
tactics such as fasts, boycotts, strikes, and pilgrimages; his 
union's efforts influenced and inspired millions of Americans, 
forging a diverse national coalition of students, middle-class 
consumers, religious groups, and minorities in a hard-won struggle 
to achieve fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, humane 
living conditions, and perhaps most important, dignity and respect 
for the hundreds of thousands of farmworkers across the country; 
and
	WHEREAS, In 1991, this second-generation American received 
the Aguila Azteca award, the highest award Mexico can bestow on a 
person of Mexican heritage, and in 1994, a year after his death on 
April 23, 1993, his widow accepted the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, on behalf of her late 
husband; since his death, communities across the nation have chosen 
to pay homage to Mr. Chavez by naming schools, parks, streets, and 
libraries, as well as scholarships and awards, in his honor; and
	WHEREAS, His motto in life, "si se puede," or "it can be 
done," embodies the legacy that Cesar Chavez has left for the 
world's benefit, and his principles of equality, justice, and 
dignity for all Americans remain as essential and as relevant today 
as they were when he began his important life's work; now, 
therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas 
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Cesar Chavez by 
recognizing the month beginning March 31, 2006, as Cesar Chavez 
Farmworker Appreciation Month and encourage all Texans to reflect 
on and celebrate the extraordinary achievements of this inspiring 
humanitarian.