Republican Texans Propose Legislation to Eliminate ‘Cesar Chavez Day’ as Texas Holiday
Republican State Representative Tyron Lewis of Odessa, Texas has filed legislation with this 82nd legislative state session to eliminate “Cesar Chavez Day” as an optional holiday in the state.
House Bill 505 would eliminate the day honoring the migrant farm hero, with “Texas Hispanic Heritage Day” that would also be an optional state holiday. When there is an optional state holiday, a public institution has an option to honor that date or not and each state institution, like a school can only select so many paid days off on their calendar.
Chavez is a revered civil rights leader in the Hispanic community for his role as co-founder of the United Farm Workers. If the bill passes the holiday slated for March 31 would be eliminated and the new holiday date would be September 16 to honor Mexican independence.
This action follows the Texas State Board of Education move started by Texas Conservatives to eliminate Chavez from state-approve textbooks citing he “lacks the stature…and contributions” and should not “be held up to our children as someone worth of emulation.”