From Sacramento and Your Neighborhood
Greetings Neighbors!
Very rarely is humanity blessed with a great leader like Cesar Chavez. His selfless dedication to an exploited and abused group of people inspired thousan ds who had been silenced. Each year, people across the state and nation celebrate and honor his legacy through marches, rallies, and events, including a state holiday on his birthday, March 31st. He continues to provide inspiration in the fight for equality and civil rights.
In this column, I would like to honor Cesar Chavez’s contributions with a brief history of his life. Born in a small adobe-style home in Yuma , Arizona , he and his family moved to California when he was a teenager. Living in a barrio of San Jose known commonly as “Sal Si Puedes,” which translates to “Get Out If You Can,” his family worked in the fiel ds to earn a living. Out of sheer need, Chavez halted his formal education after the 8th grade in order to provide for his family.
In early adulthood, Chavez served in the Navy, married Helen Fabela and began a family. While working in the fields, he came to the attention of those involved with the Community Service Organization (CSO), which helped organize underserved workers into labor unions. CSO created a new movement for Mexican-American rights and ushered in a new era of Latino activism. Chavez began working for CSO by registering Mexican-Americans to vote.
After a decade with the CSO, where he eventually became its national director, Chavez created his own organization, the National Farm Workers Association. Later joining with Filipino American members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, and Dolores Huerta, the group came to be known as the United Farm Workers of American, AFL-CIO (UFW). This group was dedicated to fighting for economic justice for farm workers and became one of the most influential Latino organizations in the United States .
After witnessing years of abuse and maltreatment of his fellow farm workers in the grape fiel ds in California , Chavez led the UFW and the nation through a boycott of all California table grapes, starting in 1967. The boycott, known as “La Causa,” or “The Cause,” eventually paved the way for California state laws that guaranteed bargaining and organizing rights for workers. It also led to the signing of the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975.
Chavez continued fighting for equality and fairness throughout the rest of his life. He sacrificed enormously for the cause, often fasting for days to bring attention to the har ds hips farm workers endured. His final fast in 1988, which lasted for 36 days, called attention to how pesticides in the grape fiel ds were harming grape workers and their families. When Chavez passed away in 1993, many close to him attributed his death in part to the fact that he never fully recovered from that fast.
In 2000, California established the state holiday in honor of Cesar Chavez with the idea of it being a ‘day on’ rather than a ‘day off,’ to promote his tireless advocacy for civil rights. “If you want to remember me, organize!” was his response when asked how he would want to be remembered.
That is why I urge you to honor Cesar Chavez, not only by participating in the many rallies and marches scheduled around his birthday, but by considering devoting some of your volunteer time to the Cesar Chavez Foundation. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, please call (818) 265-0300, or visit http://www.chavezfoundation.org.
Today, the UFW is one of the most important and influential unions in the country. I was proud that they stood strongly in support of our marriage equality bill last year. Chavez’s legacy of justice and equal rights for all people inspires us to keep the movement alive. His rallying cry “Si Se Puede!” which translates roughly to “It Can Be Done!” reminds us that our struggle for respect and dignity for everyone continues.
Cesar Chavez wrote, “Let us remember those who died for justice for they have given us life. Help us to love even those who hate us so that we can change the world.” Si Se Puede!
To contact Assemblyman Mark Leno’s San Francisco District Office call (415) 557-3013 or e-mail him directly at Assemblymember.Leno@asm.ca.gov
For those joining in gay marriages today, the road from outlaw status to respectability was paved in the Legislature over three decades.
From decriminalizing sex between same-sex couples, to outlawing job discrimination against homosexuals, to adding gay members to the legislative roster, the government has been taking steps, measure-by-measure, that have led to gay couples joining hands in marriage ceremonies across the state.
