Texas 2023 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HR908 Introduced / Bill

Filed 04/01/2023

                    88R20545 TBO-D
 By: Neave Criado H.R. No. 908


 R E S O L U T I O N
 WHEREAS, Americans across the country will pause on March 31,
 2023, Cesar Chavez Day, to pay tribute to the inspiring life and
 achievements of the founder and longtime leader of the United Farm
 Workers of America on the anniversary of his birth; and
 WHEREAS, Born in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona, and raised in
 California, Cesar Estrada Chavez spent much of his youth as a
 migrant laborer; as a Latino and a farmworker, he learned firsthand
 about the indignities of second-class citizenship and the unhealthy
 working and living conditions endured by those who tended the
 fields; and
 WHEREAS, After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1948,
 Cesar Chavez returned to California, and in 1948 he married Helen
 Fabela; four years later he became a community organizer for the
 Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights group that
 focused most of its work in urban areas, and by the late 1950s he had
 become its national director; and
 WHEREAS, When in 1962 the CSO declined to organize California
 farmworkers, Mr. Chavez and his colleague Dolores Huerta left the
 organization to found the National Farm Workers Association, a
 forerunner of the UFW; their fledgling union gained national
 prominence just three years later when it offered support to
 workers who were striking against California's grape growers; in
 addition to assuming leadership of the strike, Mr. Chavez launched
 a successful nationwide consumers' boycott of nonunion grapes; and
 WHEREAS, By the end of the five-year-long strike, the UFW had
 organized all of the California table-grape industry and negotiated
 the first collective bargaining agreements between American
 farmworkers and corporations; in 1975 Mr. Chavez and the UFW
 succeeded in securing the passage of California's Agricultural
 Labor Relations Act, the first law in U.S. history granting
 farmworkers the right to unionize and bargain collectively;
 numerous other gains achieved under his leadership included the
 establishment of a farmworkers' medical plan, pension plan, and
 credit union, as well as the National Farm Workers Service Center,
 whose projects have included the development of affordable housing,
 health clinics, cooperatives, and a retirement home; and
 WHEREAS, Over the course of his life, Cesar Chavez sought to
 advance La Causa, the movement, through nonviolent means--through
 strikes, pickets, and boycotts; on several occasions he also
 undertook lengthy fasts to draw public attention to the
 farmworkers' struggle; and
 WHEREAS, Mr. Chavez continued to lead the UFW until his death
 on April 23, 1993; more than 50,000 people from throughout the
 nation gathered to mourn him at his funeral, indicating the
 far-reaching impact he had made on American society; and
 WHEREAS, Since that time, numerous schools, streets,
 scholarships, monuments, buildings, and parks have been named in
 his memory, a number of U.S. cities have initiated annual
 celebrations in tribute to his life, and several states, including
 Texas, have declared his birthday, March 31, a state holiday; in
 1994 Mr. Chavez was posthumously awarded the nation's highest
 honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and
 WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez chose to devote his life to the pursuit
 of social and economic justice through nonviolent means, and his
 courage and steadfastness in this great work brought improved
 health, greater security, and hope for a brighter future to
 countless people; now, therefore, be it
 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas
 Legislature hereby honor the life of Cesar Chavez and join the
 citizens of the Lone Star State in commemorating the 96th
 anniversary of his birth on March 31, 2023.