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