Mexican is the most common ancestry of Venice residents. Venice High School Principal Elsa Mendoza told me that 2/3 of her students are Latino, so it is with special pride that Venice celebrates Cesar Chavez Day as a state holiday.
It’s hard to believe that this organizer who founded the United Farm Workers Union has been dead now for nearly 18 years, and it's time for a bit of reflection on his legacy.
On the 84th anniversary of Chavez's birth, people need to be reminded that collective action by unions can make a huge impact on the working conditions of the dispossessed. It's a lesson we should remember with the current .
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When Chavez began organizing, migrant workers labored in horrific conditions often doing piecework for below minimum wage, too often cheated by growers who threatened them with deportation if they raised a fuss. As a native Arizonan, and U.S. citizen, Chavez could take on the growers. Conditions in the field today are no picnic, but at least they are humane.
Inspired by Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Chavez employed a range of non-violent actions, including protests and a fast that he famously broke in 1968 by accepting bread from presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, one of his supporters.
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Chavez learned how to apply economic pressure by coaxing the public into boycotting grapes in 1970, and lettuce not long after thereafter. His actions were supported across the country by socially concerned people, including my friends and family in far-off New England.
Perhaps Chavez’s legacy had the most impact on the next generation of Latinos, the children of the farm workers. By fighting for decent labor conditions, he gave these kids hope, inspiring them to aspire to more. One I got to know was reporter/anchor Gina Silva. I often wrote for her at L.A.’s Fox 11 News.
As the daughter of migrant farm workers, Silva has vivid memories of her parents picking vegetables for meager wages under the hot Southwest sun. She determined to do better, and did so, studying hard and graduating with a degree in broadcast journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University
In his call to make Cesar Chavez Day a national holiday, Barack Obama said, “we should honor him for what he's taught us about making America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation.”
It’s an honor that is overdue.
