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Polish Legislative Caucus members of the Massachusetts Legislature present Official Joint Resolution honoring the Polish American Congress to Dean Anthony J. Bajdek (holding resolution), National Vice President for American Affairs, at State House in Boston, April 30, 2008. Image of the resolution: Page 1 Page 2 In an action that henceforth will be held as a benchmark achievement for the Polish American Congress in Massachusetts, and for that matter, nationally as well, the Massachusetts legislature, known as "The General Court," proclaimed April 30, 2008 to be the FIRST POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS DAY OF RECOGNITION in the Commonwealth. This is the third in a series of politically-related achievements initiated by Dean Anthony J. Bajdek, Polish American Congress National Vice President for American Affairs and President of the Polish American Congress of Eastern Massachusetts. The realization of the Joint Resolution will serve as a Polish American Congress model of grass-roots activism on the level of state government. The Resolution is conspicuous in that it focuses on the Polish American Congress itself and recognizes national and local Polish American Congress achievements. The Legislature's Joint Resolution would not have occurred without the reluctance of the Governor’s Office - citing technical difficulties - to issue an Executive proclamation of "Polish American Congress Day." Moreover, the Legislature’s Joint Resolution would not have occurred without the sponsorship and support of the "Polish Legislative Caucus" in the state legislature. The Caucus itself was created in February 2007 during a meeting in the State House in Boston between interested Polish American and other legislators in the House and Senate, Anthony Bajdek, and Joseph Kos, the President of the Western Massachusetts Division of the Polish American Congress. The breadth and depth of the membership of the Polish Legislative Caucus in Massachusetts is reflected by its members: in the House of Representatives, John Binienda, Daniel Bosley, Mary Grant, Louis Kafka, Michael Kane, Peter Kocot, Robert Koczera, Paul Kujawski, Stephen Kulik, David Linsky, Denise Provost, Kathi-Anne Reinstein, John Scibak, Todd Smola, and Joseph Wagner; and finally, in the Senate, Michael Knapik and Richard Moore. Not all are Americans of Polish descent, but they are friends and colleagues of those who are, and indeed friends of Poland as well. The genesis of the Caucus would not have occurred without the passage of the first-in-the-nation Visa Waiver for Poland Joint Resolution in May 2004 by the Massachusetts legislature, after Bajdek had presented "boilerplate" wording for the Resolution to interested legislators (Scibak and Wagner being the pivotal contacts), all of whom went on to establish the Polish Legislative Caucus three years later. Furthermore, it is believed that the FIRST POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS DAY OF RECOGNITION Resolution in Massachusetts establishes precedent as the first-ever to be issued that focuses on the Polish American Congress itself by either an executive or legislative branch of state government in the United States. Other than the title of the Joint Resolution, "Congratulating the Polish American Congress on Its First Annual Day of Recognition," and the concluding two "Resolves," the draft of the Resolution, being the total work of Dean Bajdek, reads as follows: WHEREAS, The Polish American Congress was established nationally in 1944 to represent the international and domestic concerns of Americans of Polish descent before the government of the United States, and WHEREAS, The Polish American Congress sought to sustain hopes for freedom of the people of Poland as the years of terror and suffering under brutal Nazi German oppression were ending , only to be followed by another oppressive communist government imposed by Soviet Russia, and WHEREAS, The Polish American Congress resolutely articulated and advocated the moral and strategic imperatives for sustaining aid and support for Poland beginning with the disheartening days following revelation of the Yalta Agreement, thence throughout the bitter, dark days of the Cold War, and through the oppressive period of martial law on the eve of the demise of communism in Central and East Europe, and WHEREAS, The Polish American Congress sought to educate all Americans about the origin of the contributions of the Polish people to the rich diversity of American life that began with the arrival in 1608 of the first Poles in the Jamestown Colony of Virginia and blossomed with the distinguished military service of Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Casimir Pulaski during America's War of Independence, and WHEREAS, The Polish American Congress initiated actions and prevailed on the United States Senate to ratify the Protocols of Accession to the NATO Treaty on April 4, 1998, thereby granting membership to Poland; and beginning in 1999, worked with our Department of State to prevail on the governments of Germany and Austria to compensate Poles who were victims of forced industrial and farm labor during World War II, and WHEREAS, The Polish American Congress in the Commonwealth prevailed on the legislature to enact in Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 6, the annual state-wide observances of Polish Constitution Day, Thaddeus Kosciuszko Day, and Polish American Heritage Month in 1953, 1977, and 1996 respectively, and WHEREAS, The Polish American Congress in Massachusetts prevailed on the legislature to pass the first-in-the-nation Visa Waiver for Poland Joint Resolution in May 2004, and WHEREAS, The Polish American Congress representing the fifth largest European ethnic group in the United States has always stressed the principles of social responsibility, service, and civic virtue among all citizens of our great nation, the United States of America; therefore, be it RESOLVED, that upon April 30, 2008, the Massachusetts General Court hereby extends to the Polish American Congress its gratitude for its contributions to greater society; and be it further RESOLVED, that a copy of these Resolutions be forwarded by the Clerk of the House of Representatives to the Polish American Congress. The Resolutions were signed on April 29, 2008 by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the members of the Polish Legislative Caucus in both the House and Senate. |
