[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 32 (Thursday, February 27, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E333]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONOR CESAR CHAVEZ: A FIGHTER FOR ALL AMERICANS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 27, 2003

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce H.R. 963, 
legislation to rename the Southeastern Post Office, in San Diego, 
California, the ``Cesar E. Chavez Post Office.''
  In San Diego, as well as across the Nation, the name Cesar Chavez 
symbolizes dignity, admiration, and devotion to equality and human 
rights. This man dedicated his life to ameliorating human rights in our 
country. In the 1950s and 60s, when minorities were given little or no 
respect or rights, Cesar Chavez cleared the path for equality.
  In the early 1950s, after fighting in World War II, Chavez began his 
involvement in battling racial and economic discrimination against 
Chicanos. As his attention and personal interest focused on the poor 
working conditions of farm workers, he realized that his dream was to 
start an organization to aid these workers.
  Having been a farm worker himself, he was far too familiar with the 
inhumane working conditions farm workers were forced to endure. In 
1962, he founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), and in 
1965, the NFWA joined an AFL-CIO sponsored union boycott against major 
table and wine grape growers. Through this five year long, successful 
boycott that rallied millions of supporters, the NFWA merged with the 
AFL-CIO union and formed the United Farm Workers (UFW).2
  From the beginning, the UFW followed the principals of nonviolence 
practiced by Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He organized 
peaceful demonstrations to bring attention to the farm worker's 
conditions. His slogan, Si se puede!, Yes, we can!, became known 
worldwide.
  National attention to the farm workers came in 1968 when Senator 
Robert Kennedy visited Cesar Chavez in California after Chavez led a 25 
day fast. Kennedy was right when he called Cesar ``one of the heroic 
figures of our time.''
  Cesar continued to organize boycotts and strikes around the world 
against table grape growers in California. His efforts paid off when, 
in 1975, growers supported then California Governor Jerry Brown's 
collective bargaining law for farm workers, the 1975 Agricultural Labor 
Relations Act.
  Cesar Chavez is remembered today for his continual efforts and 
dedication to justice and equality. As Cesar said, ``There are many 
reasons why a man does what he does. To be himself he must be able to 
give it all. If a leader cannot give it all, he cannot expect his 
people to give anything.'' The people of San Diego thank Cesar Chavez 
for always giving his all.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation that recognizes such 
an honorable man by naming a San Diego Post Office in his honor.

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