Saturday, September 22, 2001

Great man brought about great change

AUSTIN - During a recent trip to Corpus Christi, I spoke with a man who grew up in the area but had since moved to Oklahoma. He was back on a business trip.
   Our conversation began when he mentioned one of the most interesting men I've had the privilege to know: Dr. Hector P. Garcia, founder of the American GI Forum. We sat for a long time and talked about the battles Garcia fought and won for Hispanics, veterans and others.
   Garcia paved the way for many Hispanics who are in prominent positions today. His death on July 26, 1996, left a void in the GI Forum, the Hispanic community and in America. Celebrating Garcia's life is appropriate anytime, but it is especially fitting during Hispanic Heritage Month Sept. l5-Oct. 15.
   This is a time for us to celebrate the lives of those who have made contributions and sacrifices so that all may have a better life. It is also a time to remind younger generations of the contributions so they will never forget who made the sacrifices and fought for their rights.
   In 1993, I was fortunate enough to gain insight into Garcia and his tremendous work. I was conducting research for a special section about Garcia's life that was published in the Caller-Times. This allowed me to spend a lot of time with him and with those who knew him best.
   I became fascinated with his life, which was an incredible journey that led him from working to battle discrimination and decaying conditions in South Texas to being honored at the White House.
   Garcia organized the GI Forum in 1948 to combat discrimination against Hispanic veterans after World War II. At the time, they were being discriminated against in medical attention, employment, housing and the exercising of the GI Bill of Rights. Today, the GI Forum has more than 500 chapters nationwide.
   During my research, I remember sitting in Garcia's waiting room with patients who couldn't afford to pay for treatment. He treated them anyway. I spoke with dozens of people whom Garcia had helped - through medical treatment and through his civil rights actions. Many people simply called him Dr. Hector.
   But what impressed me the most was that Garcia always worked within the system to improve the system.
   ''The biggest impact I had was that I never pushed or favored any demonstrations or revolt to tear down the system,'' he told me in 1993. ''I always thought the system would work with us.''
   An example was an incident in 1949 that catapulted the GI Forum onto the national scene.
   A Three Rivers funeral home owner refused the use of a chapel to bury Pvt. Felix Longoria, a veteran killed in World War II.
   The funeral home director said Longoria could be buried in the town's segregated "Mexican" cemetery but could not use the chapel because the local ''whites would not like it,'' according to newspaper reports at the time.
   Garcia contacted the owner of the funeral home, who still refused use of the chapel. Garcia went to members of the Legislature and U.S. Congress. Longoria was eventually buried in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
   There are dozens of other examples of Garcia's persistence and hard work that benefited Hispanics and others.
   Everyone should study Garcia's life because it is an inspiring and uplifting story of a great humanitarian. But Hispanics in particular will gain a greater appreciation for what they have now after studying Garcia's life.
   My hope is that younger generations will learn from Dr. Hector P. Garcia's life and never forget the sacrifices he made to make life better for them and for all Americans.
   Ty Meighan is chief of the Scripps Howard Austin Bureau and can be reached at 512-334-6640 or meighant@scripps.com.
  
  

---

Ty Meighan is chief of the Scripps Howard Austin Bureau. You can reach him by phone at (512) 334-6640 or by email at meighant@scripps.com.

| Discuss about birdwatching | | Home |

---

---

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND

---

2000 Caller-Times Publishing Company, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.