Thanksgiving Day Message

November 26, 2009

Dear LULAC Members and Friends:

On behalf of the LULAC National Board of Directors and our National staff, I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope that you are together with your family and friends this holiday season.

Today is a day to count our blessings and give thanks to those who have enriched our lives and helped make possible all that we have achieved. In my family we will especially give thanks to those who have picked and prepared the food that we eat; the teachers and professors who have opened the doors of educational opportunity for us; the workers who have built our home and made the items we enjoy; and the soldiers, veterans, police officers, firemen and others who have defended our freedoms and kept our family safe.

I personally want to thank my family and the members of LULAC for their dedication to helping others and for all the support and love they have brought to me during my tenure as LULAC National President.

I am reminded that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of our immigrant heritage as Native Americans welcomed European immigrants to the new world and shared their food, land and culture with the newcomers.

But I am also saddened that some of the descendents of these immigrants are far less welcoming to the newcomers of today and have sought to make life difficult for those who would follow in their own families’ footsteps. Thanksgivng is a chance to remember our heritage as a nation of immigrants and to rededicate ourselves to ensuring the United States remains a benevolent society for those who are less fortunate than we are.

We are grateful to those have given so much to strengthen our nation and to keep us safe. Today, I will be thinking of those soldiers who are spending Thanksgiving away from their families so that our family can spend Thanksgiving together in safety.

In particular, I will be thinking of the Caraveo family who lost a beloved member in the tragic shooting at Fort Hood. Major Librado Eduardo Caraveo was a devoted father of three who came to the United States as a teenager from Ciudad Juarez and was the uncle of LULAC National Staff member Sandra Caraveo who works out of our El Paso office. He graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso, the first in his family to go to college, and he received a doctorate in psychology from the University of Arizona. A psychologist with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and with the Army Reserves, Dr. Caraveo was also a member of LULAC who was recognized by our Federal Training Institute during the 2004 LULAC National Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Caraveo was laid to rest yesterday in a moving ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. We will honor his service to our nation at the upcoming LULAC Veterans summit in Los Angeles, California next week.

To Major Caraveo and the thousands of Latino service members who have defended our nation and given their lives so that we may be safe…thank you for your service. Your sacrifice will always be remembered and cherished by those you have defended.

With warmest wishes this Thanksgiving,

Rosa Rosales
LULAC National President