Honoring Cesar Chavez Day

A glance at the civil rights and labor movement work of Cesar Chavez, recognized annually on his birth date, March 31.

by Abel Reyes

Cesar Chavez, one of the most identifiable activists, was not an especially gifted orator. However, he showed that the best way to convey thought was through action.

When the time of public speaking came for him, Chavez chose a simple and direct way to speak to attract an outcome.

He left school to become a full-time farm laborer to help support his family, only finishing up to junior high at the time.

As an adult, Chavez started to work for community service engagements. His work for the National Farm Workers Association made public speaking essential for him. He gave a speech that demonstrated the values of religion and the role of the Catholic church in the lives of Mexican-Americans.

Chavez realized that the religious community could help the farm workers movement. Taking from his own experiences, he communicated the familiarity of struggle between that of Catholics and of migrant workers.

He realized that his work went beyond farm workers. Around this time, the now-titled United Farm Workers of America was having a massive decline in financial support. It was through his empowering speech that reassured the UFW movement would not go unnoticed.

Photo by Cathy Murphy, Edit by Joey Abe

From “Peril of Pesticides Address to Pacific Lutheran Church,” 1989:

The U.F.W. has always had to be something more than a union. Because our people are so poor. Because the color of our skin is dark. Because we often don’t speak the language. Because the discrimination, the racism and the social dilemmas we confront transcend mere economic need. What good does it do to achieve the blessings of collective bargaining and make economic progress for people when their health is destroyed in the process?

Throughout Chavez’s lifetime, he advocated for improvements in labor regulations. At the time of his death, he was campaigning about the dangerous use of pesticides and how it was poisoning farm workers and causing birth defects.

Chavez died in 1993 at the age of 66 and his birth date, March 31, is recognized as Cesar Chavez Day. His life’s legacy and work continues on.