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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, Americans across the country will pause on March 31, |
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2011, Cesar Chavez Day, to pay tribute to the inspiring life and |
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achievements of the founder and longtime leader of the United Farm |
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Workers of America (UFW), AFL-CIO, on the anniversary of his birth; |
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and |
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WHEREAS, Born in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona, and later raised in |
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California, Cesar Estrada Chavez spent much of his youth as a |
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migrant laborer; as a Latino and a farmworker, he learned firsthand |
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about the indignities of second-class citizenship and the unhealthy |
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working and living conditions endured by those who tended the |
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fields; and |
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WHEREAS, After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946, |
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Cesar Chavez returned to California, and in 1948 he married Helen |
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Fabela; four years later he became a community organizer for the |
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Community Service Organization (CSO), a Latino civil rights group |
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that focused most of its work in urban areas, and by the late 1950s |
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he had become its national director; and |
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WHEREAS, When in 1962 the CSO declined to organize California |
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farmworkers, Mr. Chavez and his colleague Dolores Huerta left the |
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organization to found the National Farm Workers Association, a |
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forerunner of the UFW; their fledgling union gained national |
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prominence just three years later when it came to the support of |
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workers who were striking against California's grape growers; in |
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addition to assuming leadership of the strike, Mr. Chavez launched |
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a successful nationwide consumers' boycott of nonunion grapes; and |
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WHEREAS, By the end of the five-year-long strike, the UFW had |
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organized all of the California table-grape industry and negotiated |
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the first collective bargaining agreements between American |
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farmworkers and corporations; in 1975 Cesar Chavez and the UFW |
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further succeeded in securing the passage of California's |
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Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first law in U.S. history |
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granting farmworkers the right to unionize and bargain |
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collectively; numerous other gains achieved under his leadership |
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included the establishment of a farmworkers' medical plan, pension |
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plan, and credit union, as well as the National Farm Workers Service |
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Center, Inc., whose projects include the development of affordable |
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housing, health clinics, cooperatives, and a retirement home; and |
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WHEREAS, Over the course of his life, Cesar Chavez sought to |
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advance La Causa, the movement, through nonviolent means--through |
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strikes, pickets, and boycotts; on several occasions he also |
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undertook lengthy fasts to draw public attention to the |
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farmworkers' struggle; and |
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WHEREAS, Mr. Chavez continued to lead the UFW until his death |
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on April 23, 1993; more than 50,000 people from throughout the |
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nation gathered to mourn him at his funeral, indicative of the |
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far-reaching impact he had made on American society; and |
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WHEREAS, Since that time, numerous schools, streets, |
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scholarships, monuments, buildings, and parks have been named in |
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his memory, a number of U.S. cities have initiated annual |
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celebrations in tribute to his life, and several states, including |
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Texas, have declared his birthday, March 31, a state holiday; in |
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1994 Mr. Chavez was posthumously awarded the nation's highest |
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honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and |
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WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez chose to devote his life to the pursuit |
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of social and economic justice through nonviolent means, and his |
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courage and steadfastness in this great work brought improved |
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health, greater security, and hope for a brighter future to |
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countless people; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas |
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Legislature hereby honor the life of Cesar Chavez and join the |
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citizens of the Lone Star State in commemorating the 84th |
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anniversary of his birth on March 31, 2011. |