Bill Text: TX HR83 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Enrolled

Texas House Resolution 83 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Honoring the life of Cesar Chavez and recognizing the month beginning March 31, 2012, as Cesar Chavez Farmworker Appreciation Month.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-04-05 - Reported enrolled [HR83 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HR83-Enrolled.html



	H.R. No. 83



	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, 2012,
	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 82nd Texas
	Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Cesar Chavez by
	recognizing the month beginning March 31, 2012, 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. 83 was unanimously adopted by a rising
	vote of the House on March 31, 2011.

	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House