Essay Viva Chávez
By RICH HEFFERN
NCR Staff
Once again California, first in
freeways and orange groves, leads the nation -- this time in honoring the life
of the countrys foremost Hispanic civil rights leader with a state
holiday.
State employees will get a paid day off this year, on Friday,
March 30, in honor of César Chávez, leader of the United Farm
Workers union. Legislation creating a holiday on the Monday or Friday nearest
his March 31 birthday was approved by the California legislature and signed by
Gov. Gray Davis last summer.
When children learn about the great life of Martin Luther
King, Jr., they will also learn about the great life of César
Chávez, said Davis when he signed the California legislation on
Aug. 18, 2000. With an unconquerable spirit and undeniable cause,
Chávez led a labor movement which set into motion such powerful,
sweeping changes that the impact is still being felt today.
The law creates what is described as the nations first paid
state holiday honoring a Latino or a labor union figure. Texas and Arizona
offer an optional holiday in honor of Chávez. New Mexico is considering
establishing the last Saturday of March as César Chávez
Day. Legislation is under consideration in Colorado and Wisconsin as
well.
As Davis penned the bill into law, supporters sang De
Colores, the upbeat and melodic UFW rallying song.
Previous California law let state workers take the day off as
César Chávez Day, but they had to use personal
holiday time to get paid.
According to new state guidelines, California schools will have
the option of commemorating Chávez with a Day of Service and
Learning. At participating schools, a state-funded curriculum will be
used in the morning to teach students about Chávez and the history of
the farm labor movement in the United States. In the afternoon, students will
perform community service.
We wanted to be able to provide young people knowledge about
César Chávez, who he was, what his philosophy was, but also a way
to practice it, said United Farm Workers president, Arturo Rodriguez, who
pushed for the educational component as a way to keep the Chávez legacy
alive.
After much debate, California Democrats unanimously supported the
legislation, which was initiated by Sen. Richard Polanco, a Los Angeles
Democrat. Many Republicans, primarily from the Central Valley where
Chávez is still a controversial figure, voted against it or didnt
vote at all. Opponents criticized the cost of the holiday.
César Chávez was born in 1927 near Yuma, Ariz., into
a family of migrant laborers. He and his wife raised eight children on a farm
workers low wages. Inspired by community organizer Saul Alinksy,
Chávez founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962 to help
address farm laborers suffering. This organization later became the UFW,
an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. In 1965 Chávez led a nationwide boycott
against the states grape growers, who refused to sign contracts with
their workers. Millions of Americans honored the boycott, and in 1970 the
growers gave in.
Like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Chávez was an
advocate of nonviolent protest. He fought for better working conditions by
staging hunger strikes and organizing marches and boycotts. Chávez
inspired a generation of Hispanics and helped others understand the plight of
migrant workers who in the 1960s earned barely $1,300 a year in the $4 billion
farm industry. His unions efforts vastly improved conditions for all U.S.
agricultural workers. In 1993 Chávez died at age 66 while preparing to
fight a lawsuit against the union filed in San Luis, Calif., a small farming
town near the Mexican border.
Even after his cause was adopted by politicians and Hollywood
stars, Chávez lived simply. As recently as the late 1980s, he did not
own a house or car and estimated his income at about $900 a month. His salary
as union president equaled the salary of a farm laborer.
Msgr. George Higgins was the moving force in the Catholic
churchs support for Chávez and his union movement. Higgins, who
served on the U.S. Bishops Committee on Farm Labor in the 60s and
70s, told NCR: I am very pleased about this. César
Chávez was not so much a charismatic figure as he was a deeply religious
man, and it showed.
Oakland mayor and former governor Jerry Brown said Chávez
was the most important labor leader since World War II. U.S. Sen.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called him one of the great pioneers for civil
rights and human rights of our century.
He was a common man who did uncommon things, said
Rodriguez. Even people who werent around when César
Chávez was alive will recognize now what he did. To have someone in our
ethnic group recognized like this, it brings us a lot of pride.
National Catholic Reporter, March 30,
2001
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