Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HCR150 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	86R24010 SME-D
2	2	By: Reynolds H.C.R. No. 150
3	3
4	4
5	5	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
6	6	WHEREAS, During a span of nearly 250 years, beginning in 1619
7	7	and continuing until 1865, approximately four million Africans and
8	8	their descendants were enslaved and forced into uncompensated labor
9	9	in the United States and the 13 American colonies that preceded the
10	10	founding of this nation; and
11	11	WHEREAS, The enslavement of Africans and their descendants
12	12	was constitutionally sanctioned by the final draft of the
13	13	Constitution of the United States of America in 1789; it was not
14	14	until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865 that slavery
15	15	was legally abolished, yet the suffering of the former slaves
16	16	continued after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and
17	17	ratification of the 13th Amendment; and
18	18	WHEREAS, The abolition of slavery alone was not enough to set
19	19	the freed slaves on the path to self-sufficiency, given the fact
20	20	that for generations they had been systematically denied access to
21	21	education, property, legal rights, or any other foundation for
22	22	success, and even the few attempts to provide some of these
23	23	fundamental elements often were quickly overturned; and
24	24	WHEREAS, For example, the original pledge of 40 acres of land
25	25	to all freed slaves under the Freedman's Bureau Act of 1865 was
26	26	rendered obsolete in 1866 by President Andrew Johnson when he
27	27	returned all of the land to the pre-Civil War owners, leaving the
28	28	freed slaves with a broken promise and bankrupting the bureau's
29	29	funding; and
30	30	WHEREAS, The United States government has actively supported
31	31	initiatives to indemnify Americans who were wronged in the past; in
32	32	1946, the United States Congress established a tribunal to resolve
33	33	grievances of Native American tribes and eventually awarded them
34	34	reparations, and in 1988, the United States awarded Japanese
35	35	Americans reparations in an effort to compensate for their
36	36	internment in camps during World War II; and
37	37	WHEREAS, The movement to officially recognize the impact of
38	38	slavery on the American citizenry has been sustained through
39	39	several generations and continues to have nationwide support;
40	40	however, since the abolition of slavery, the United States has yet
41	41	to take responsibility for its role in the enslavement of Africans
42	42	and their descendants, and sufficient inquiry has not been made to
43	43	examine the institution of slavery and its lingering negative
44	44	effects on African American society in the United States; now,
45	45	therefore, be it
46	46	RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas
47	47	hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass H.R. 40
48	48	to establish the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation
49	49	Proposals for African Americans; and, be it further
50	50	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
51	51	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
52	52	the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the
53	53	Senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
54	54	Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution
55	55	be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to
56	56	the Congress of the United States of America.