[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 87 (Friday, June 13, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1240]]
                        CESAR CHAVEZ POST OFFICE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RAHM EMANUEL

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 10, 2003

  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 925 
to designate Chicago's 1859 South Ashland Avenue postal facility as the 
Cesar Chavez Post Office.
  Born on the cusp of the Depression, he knew that hard work in hard 
times brought only hard luck for farm workers. As a 15-year-old, Chavez 
left school when his father was disabled in a car accident, and he took 
up work that would inform his legacy. He worked twelve hours a day 
hoeing beets and lettuce to help sustain his family. As a child he 
learned that farm workers' pay depended on the farm owner's good will 
or whim. As fields of fruit ripened before him, he saw that the 
agricultural economy depended on growers' abilities to hire enough 
short-term workers to harvest the crop. He also saw how immigration 
policies like the bracero program ensured a steady supply of labor 
willing to accept depressed wages.
  But the work that nearly broke his back only strengthened his spirit, 
and Cesar Chavez went on to be one of this nation's greatest advocates 
for farm workers.
  With first-hand knowledge of the field's wretched conditions, of farm 
workers' vulnerabilities and of the workers' essential role in 
maintaining agricultural production, he gave voice to hundreds of 
thousands of migrant workers who were too afraid to speak out alone. He 
mobilized the isolated and vulnerable into a unified power, and in the 
process strengthened the burgeoning civil rights movement. The union he 
founded, United Farm Workers, adhered to Gandhi's principles of 
nonviolence, and slowly improved the lives of farm workers and their 
families by insisting that work conditions are safe and humane.
  Cesar Chavez is an American hero. He believed in the dignity of work, 
and fought for the humane treatment of each worker. His life's work and 
guiding values make our society a better place. I am privileged to 
stand in support commemorating his life and work with the designation 
of the U.S. Postal Service facility at 1859 South Ashland Avenue in 
Chicago as the Cesar Chavez Post Office.

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