"They cannot say that I have failed, but only that
they fear I will." - Henry B. Gonzalez
In the Texas Senate, Mr. Gonzalez
forged his
reputation in history forever when
he filibustered
for a record 22 hours to express
his contempt for
pending bills designed to keep Texas
schools
segregated.
He led a this filibuster in the Texas
Senate against its "Southern manifesto"
and the
official white supremacist defiance of
the civil
rights movement.
He was a fearless member of
that courageous generation that made it
no longer
respectable to defend segregation. Gonzalez
was
as important in his person as in his politics,
says
Andy Hernandez of San Antonio's St. Mary's
University. (Hernandez is a political
theorist and
activist, and author of a forthcoming
book, The
Future of Latino Political Power.) "
He was one of the very first, extraordinary
leaders
of the Mexican-American generation who
battled
segregation," Hernandez told me. "He himself
broke through all the barriers." Gonzalez'
friend,
ally, and occasional adversary Maury Maverick
gives a historical perspective to Henry
B.'s
contributions in this regard.
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"In terms of teaching Anglos that Mexican-Americans
and other minorities are entitled to equality, he was in Texas 50% Tom
Paine, 50% Thomas Jefferson."
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Five years later, Mr. Gonzalez
was elected to the
U.S. House and would
serve 18 consecutive terms.
There, too, he would
become a champion of civil
rights legislation.
As he raised his right hand and
was sworn into office,
Mr. Gonzalez held gripped
in his left hand a
draft of a bill to end poll taxes
that discriminated
against the poor and minorities.
His proposal would
eventually become part of the
historic Voting Rights
Act of 1965, a bill signed
into law by fellow
Texan, President Lyndon B.
Johnson.
Henry B. Gonzalez was born in San Antonio
in 1916 to
Mexican immigrants and rose from poverty through San
Antonio College and St. Mary's School of Law in San Antonio.
He was a city councilman and state senator before being elected
to Congress in 1961.
"He was a really important figure for our community," said
Norma Cantu, an English professor at the University of Texas
at San Antonio. "'Un abrecaminos,' you would say. Making
way for others."
A Democrat, he served as chairman of the powerful House
Banking Committee and dean of the Texas congressional
delegation.
Unafraid of clashing with top Republicans -- he sought to
impeach Presidents Reagan and Bush -- Gonzalez also didn't
shy from tangling with his own party.
"I stand before you today, accepted, but seen by some as an
inconvenient and unwelcome obstacle," he told a closed-door
meeting of House Democrats in 1996, beating back yet another
challenge to his leadership.
Gonzalez was credited with crafting tough savings and loan
bailout legislation and helping expose the industry's 1980s
excesses.
During his stint as banking chairman, Gonzalez opened
investigations that led to the resignation of the government's
chief thrift regulator and the conviction of S&L owner Charles
Keating. Those hearings proved uncomfortable for Democrats,
spotlighting four Democratic senators' ties to Keating.
Gonzalez also probed the Reagan and Bush administrations'
friendly dealings with Iraq before the Gulf War. He unearthed
evidence that U.S. agricultural credits and illegal loans were
used to help Saddam Hussein build his war machine before the
1990 invasion of Kuwait.
In 1994, he earned the Profile in Courage award from the John
F. Kennedy Library for his investigations of the S&L industry
and the Iraq scandal. The award was a special honor for
Gonzalez, whose office was dotted with photos of President
Kennedy.
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If you want to read more about Henry Gonzalez, here are some good links:
International War Crimes Tribunal Charges GHWBush et al with Crimes Against Humanity
The Bush Body Count - Dedicated to all those who tried.>