Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HR706 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	87R19020 JGH-D
2	2	By: González of El Paso H.R. No. 706
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4	4
5	5	R E S O L U T I O N
6	6	WHEREAS, January 28, 2021, was the 104th anniversary of the
7	7	famous "Bath House Riots" in El Paso, when Carmelita Torres and
8	8	other Latinas bravely resisted inhumane and brutal treatment from
9	9	U.S. border authorities; and
10	10	WHEREAS, In 1917, all Mexicans crossing the border between
11	11	Ciudad Juárez and El Paso along the Santa Fe Bridge were required to
12	12	pass through a federal "delousing" facility; men and women were
13	13	separated into different buildings, with children accompanying the
14	14	women, and then required to strip naked and submit to inspection by
15	15	federal agents, while their clothing and valuables were steamed or
16	16	treated with cyanide gas; and
17	17	WHEREAS, If a man was found with lice, his head was shaved and
18	18	the clippings burned, and if a woman was found with lice, her hair
19	19	was doused with kerosene and vinegar, after which she was required
20	20	to wait half an hour for a secondary inspection while wearing only a
21	21	towel; if lice were found again, the process was repeated; after
22	22	this, everyone was sprayed with a toxic mixture of gasoline and
23	23	soap, and, once dressed, vaccinated and presented with proof of the
24	24	process in the form of a certificate that was valid for only one
25	25	week; and
26	26	WHEREAS, On the morning of January 28, 1917, a 17-year-old
27	27	Mexican woman named Carmelita Torres was crossing the border on her
28	28	way to her job as a maid in El Paso when the trolley conductor
29	29	ordered her to leave the trolley and enter the "bath house"; she
30	30	refused and quickly rallied the other women on the trolley, who were
31	31	also domestic workers, to refuse as well; and
32	32	WHEREAS, Soon a crowd of around 200 women were actively
33	33	resisting this humiliating and racist process, some of them
34	34	throwing rocks and bottles and injuring several trolley operators;
35	35	as the crowd grew, many of the women placed themselves on the tracks
36	36	to keep the trolley cars from moving, while others removed the
37	37	operators from the cabins and destroyed the trolley controls; a
38	38	number of the women were arrested, including Ms. Torres; and
39	39	WHEREAS, The incident shut down the border for two days, but
40	40	unfortunately the protest did not stop the fumigations, which
41	41	became even worse; starting in the 1920s, officials in El Paso began
42	42	dousing Mexicans crossing the border in Zyklon B, the cyanide-based
43	43	pesticide that was later used in the gas chambers of Nazi
44	44	extermination camps during the Holocaust; the demeaning
45	45	fumigations continued for another 40 years, until the 1960s; and
46	46	WHEREAS, Following the protest of 1917, Carmelita Torres is
47	47	lost to history, but she and the other women who spontaneously stood
48	48	up for themselves that January will forever be remembered for their
49	49	courage, their determination, and their insistence upon their
50	50	essential human right to be treated with dignity and respect; now,
51	51	therefore, be it
52	52	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas
53	53	Legislature hereby commemorate the 104th anniversary of the Bath
54	54	House Riots of 1917 and pay tribute to the heroism of Carmelita
55	55	Torres.