81R5334 BGU-D
By: Alonzo H.R. No. 312
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The Crystal City student walkout, during the winter
of 1969-1970, stands as one of the most successful Chicano boycotts
in the history of the Southwest; and
WHEREAS, Beginning in the spring of 1969, Chicano students at
Crystal City High School began to present school authorities and
the school board with a series of demands intended to redress a long
history of discriminatory practices against Chicano students; on
December 9, 1969, after the school board had repeatedly resisted
dealing with the majority of the students' grievances, a number of
Chicano students at the high school began a well-organized boycott
of their classes; led by Severita Lara, Mario Trevio, and Diana
Serna, the boycott grew daily and even spread to the junior high and
elementary schools; by the time the schools closed for the
Christmas holidays, between one-half and two-thirds of all the
students in the city's public schools were boycotting their
classes; and
WHEREAS, The student walkout in Crystal City served as a
galvanizing force in organizing the Chicano residents of that town
and the surrounding area; the influence of the boycott became
manifest not only in the fairer treatment that Chicano students
received in the schools of Crystal City but in the dramatic new
political power that Chicano citizens came to exercise in certain
communities of South Texas; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 81st Texas
Legislature hereby commemorate the 41st anniversary of the Crystal
City student walkout and commend all who work to create a more just
and inclusive society in the Lone Star State.