|
|
|
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 80th Texas |
|
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Cesar Chavez by |
|
recognizing the month beginning March 31, 2007, as Cesar Chavez |
|
Farmworker Appreciation Month and encourage all Texans to reflect |
|
on and celebrate the extraordinary achievements of this inspiring |
|
humanitarian. |
|
|
Alonzo |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Speaker of the House |
|
|
I certify that H.R. No. 131 was adopted by the House on |
|
February 22, 2007, by a non-record vote. |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
|