Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HR726 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	87R20759 BPG-D
2	2	By: Davis H.R. No. 726
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5	5	R E S O L U T I O N
6	6	WHEREAS, The belief in justice for all is foundational to our
7	7	democracy, yet more than 400 years after Africans were first
8	8	brought to these shores in chains, Black Americans continue to
9	9	struggle for full protection under the law and recognition as full
10	10	human beings; and
11	11	WHEREAS, For nearly 250 years, Black Americans were enslaved;
12	12	the passage of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1868
13	13	granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all, but
14	14	oppression persisted under Jim Crow laws; in the 1890s, journalist
15	15	and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells decried the horrors of
16	16	lynching and the failure of the nation "to put a stop to this
17	17	wholesale slaughter"; almost 130 years after her call to action,
18	18	Black men, women, and children are still denied the right to live
19	19	safely and free from harm in their homes and communities, and the
20	20	youngest African Americans are growing up as witnesses to a level of
21	21	barbarous cruelty that Ida B. Wells would find all too familiar; and
22	22	WHEREAS, In contemporary America, the ease of video recording
23	23	has allowed ordinary citizens to document incident after incident
24	24	of horrific, often lethal violence against Black Americans; as a
25	25	result, public awareness of this brutality has grown, but attempts
26	26	to seek justice in these cases have exposed the deep, unhealed
27	27	wounds of systemic racism and left many to ask if Black lives will
28	28	ever matter in our state and in America; and
29	29	WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated
30	30	long-standing and persistent inequities in health, education, and
31	31	economic security, while continual hate-fueled actions underscore
32	32	the destructive impact of systemic racism and bigotry; the culture
33	33	that enables white nationalism and white supremacy foments violence
34	34	not only against African Americans, but also other people of color
35	35	and vulnerable communities; a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric, in
36	36	particular, has caused racist extremists to increasingly target
37	37	Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; and
38	38	WHEREAS, The evils of oppression have taken a costly toll on
39	39	our state and nation, and justice and liberty are but empty promises
40	40	in a perpetual climate of hate and racial animus; although we
41	41	cannot legislate away racism, we can help expose it to the light; we
42	42	can adopt anti-racist policies and renew our commitment to end
43	43	systemic racism, eliminate discrimination, and ensure fair and
44	44	equitable treatment of people of color and members of other
45	45	marginalized communities; and
46	46	WHEREAS, Silence and inaction allow racism, bigotry, and
47	47	violence to fester at all levels of society, and by declaring that
48	48	"Black Lives Matter," we reinforce our understanding that every
49	49	American, no matter their race, religion, gender, language,
50	50	national origin, or sexual orientation, deserves protection from
51	51	inequities in health, education, and economic opportunity, and we
52	52	reaffirm that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
53	53	happiness belongs to each of us; now, therefore, be it
54	54	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas
55	55	Legislature hereby express its support for the efforts of the Black
56	56	Lives Matter movement.