| 1 | 1 | | 87R9128 BPG-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: González of Dallas H.C.R. No. 64 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 6 | 6 | | WHEREAS, State office buildings should be named after the |
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| 7 | 7 | | most laudable of citizens, but the namesake of the John H. Reagan |
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| 8 | 8 | | State Office Building was a secessionist who ardently promoted |
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| 9 | 9 | | white supremacy throughout his lifetime; and |
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| 10 | 10 | | WHEREAS, During the Confederacy, John H. Reagan served in the |
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| 11 | 11 | | cabinet of Jefferson Davis as postmaster general; he later won |
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| 12 | 12 | | election as a United States senator and as railroad commissioner of |
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| 13 | 13 | | Texas, and he used his stature to vigorously champion the myth of |
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| 14 | 14 | | the Lost Cause; a major voice for racist ideology even into the |
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| 15 | 15 | | early 20th century, he proposed legislation to prevent African |
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| 16 | 16 | | Americans from exercising their right to vote, helping to lay the |
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| 17 | 17 | | groundwork for generations of systematic disenfranchisement; and |
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| 18 | 18 | | WHEREAS, The building named after John H. Reagan currently |
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| 19 | 19 | | stands as an insult to communities that have suffered under his |
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| 20 | 20 | | legacy of oppression and to the millions of Texans who abhor his |
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| 21 | 21 | | discredited values; to make amends, the state would do well to honor |
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| 22 | 22 | | instead a woman of color who worked tirelessly to break down the |
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| 23 | 23 | | barriers he helped erect; and |
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| 24 | 24 | | WHEREAS, Kingsville native Irma Rangel, who attended a |
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| 25 | 25 | | segregated elementary school, became the first Mexican American |
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| 26 | 26 | | woman elected to the Texas Legislature in 1976; dedicated to higher |
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| 27 | 27 | | education and equity for minorities and the impoverished, she |
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| 28 | 28 | | secured passage of numerous bills that expanded access to |
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| 29 | 29 | | advancement, including the legislation that provided funding for |
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| 30 | 30 | | the first professional school in South Texas; in appreciation, |
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| 31 | 31 | | Texas A&M University-Kingsville named that school the Irma Rangel |
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| 32 | 32 | | College of Pharmacy; she ably chaired the House Higher Education |
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| 33 | 33 | | Committee from 1995 until 2003, the year she lost her battle with |
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| 34 | 34 | | brain cancer; and |
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| 35 | 35 | | WHEREAS, Irma Rangel embodied the highest ideals of the Lone |
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| 36 | 36 | | Star State through her unyielding commitment to equal rights and |
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| 37 | 37 | | opportunity for all Texans, and it would be fitting to remedy an |
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| 38 | 38 | | affront to those ideals by renaming the John H. Reagan Building in |
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| 39 | 39 | | her honor; now, therefore, be it |
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| 40 | 40 | | RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 41 | 41 | | hereby direct the Texas Facilities Commission to rename the John H. |
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| 42 | 42 | | Reagan State Office Building the Irma Rangel State Office Building; |
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| 43 | 43 | | and, be it further |
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| 44 | 44 | | RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official |
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| 45 | 45 | | copy of this resolution to the chair and executive director of the |
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| 46 | 46 | | Texas Facilities Commission. |
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