Bill Text: TX SR793 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Declaring the month of April, 2011, Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-04-20 - Again read [SR793 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-SR793-Enrolled.html
|
|
||
| WHEREAS, In 2009, the Texas Legislature established the | ||
| Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission to further educate | ||
| Texans about the Holocaust and other genocides; the commission's | ||
| responsibilities include coordinating events in the State of | ||
| Texas that memorialize the Holocaust and other genocides; for | ||
| historical reasons, the Texas Senate has chosen April of 2011 to | ||
| be Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Throughout history, numerous genocides | ||
| originated in April or stemmed from events that occurred in | ||
| April; as a result, many institutions around the world have | ||
| designated April to be a month of genocide awareness and | ||
| prevention; in April of 1933, the Nazis issued a decree that | ||
| prepared the way for the "Final Solution," in which they defined | ||
| non-Aryans as "anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially | ||
| Jewish, parents or grandparents. One parent or grandparent | ||
| classifies the descendant as non-Aryan . . . especially if one | ||
| parent or grandparent was of the Jewish faith"; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In April of 1975, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom | ||
| Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and initiated wide-scale | ||
| massacres that turned cities into "killing fields"; these | ||
| massacres resulted in the death of two million people; in April | ||
| of 1992, the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital | ||
| city, ultimately led to the deaths of more than 2,000 Bosnian | ||
| Serbs; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In April of 2003, the displacement of Darfurians | ||
| began in Sudan, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths and | ||
| the displacement of millions; in April of 1994, the Rwandan | ||
| President's airplane was shot down, leading to the slaying of | ||
| moderate leaders by Hutu hardliners, and, over the next three | ||
| months, 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In 2008, the Prevention of Genocide Task Force, | ||
| convened by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the | ||
| American Academy of Diplomacy, and the United States Institute of | ||
| Peace, issued a report stating that in order to stop future | ||
| genocides and mass atrocities, effective prevention measures | ||
| must be implemented before a crisis erupts; central to this | ||
| notion was the idea that educating the public serves to protect | ||
| individual rights and promotes a culture of lawfulness that can | ||
| help to prevent future genocides; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Genocide often begins with the stratification of | ||
| a community, in which one group is ostracized and dehumanized, | ||
| creating an intolerance that can lead to the mass murder of that | ||
| targeted group and their supporters; learning about past and | ||
| current genocides will raise the call to protect individual | ||
| rights and create recognition of the need for society to act when | ||
| presented with instances of hatred and intolerance; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The Senate has chosen the month of April to | ||
| emphasize the need to heighten public awareness of the early | ||
| stages of human behavior that spawn acts of genocide, the need to | ||
| build strong communities and prevent future genocides, and the | ||
| need on the state and national levels to continue to honor all who | ||
| have been victimized by genocide; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 82nd | ||
| Legislature, hereby declare the month of April, 2011, Genocide | ||
| Awareness and Prevention Month as a tribute to all whose lives | ||
| have been touched by genocide and as a reminder of the need for | ||
| the protection of human rights and for vigilance against the | ||
| forces of intolerance; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared in | ||
| recognition of Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month. | ||
| Shapiro | ||
| ________________________________ | ||
| President of the Senate | ||
| I hereby certify that the | ||
| above Resolution was adopted by | ||
| the Senate on April 18, 2011. | ||
| ________________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| ________________________________ | ||
| Member, Texas Senate | ||
