[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCTORY REMARKS FOR CESAR ESTRADA CHAVEZ STUDY ACT

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                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 29, 2006

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce the Cesar Estrada 
Chavez Study Act. This legislation authorizes the Department of 
Interior to conduct a special resources study to examine the areas that 
Cesar Estrada Chavez lived for potential incorporation into the 
National Park Service.
  Cesar Estrada Chavez was a humble man who knew the importance of hard 
work and sacrifice. Raised during the Great Depression, Chavez's family 
lost everything and he was forced to wander the southwestern United 
States with thousands of other farmworker families. As a migrant 
farmworker he learned the value of community and family. Farmworkers 
were united as they fought to survive in the often harsh working and 
living conditions of the migrant life.
  Chavez eventually left the fields in 1952 and began to campaign 
peacefully against racial and economic discrimination. In 1962, Chavez 
returned to help farmworker families and started the National 
Farmworkers Association. Today we know this organization as the United 
Farm Workers of America. Through non-violent action, the United Farm 
Workers have fought for fair wages, health care coverage, pension 
benefits, housing improvements, pesticide and health regulations and 
countless other protections for the health and wellbeing of the 
farmworker and their family.
  Despite the work of Chavez as a civil rights and labor leader, 
religious and spiritual figure, community servant and social 
entrepreneur, there are no historical, geographical or cultural 
designations in the National Park Service to honor him or his spirit 
which lives on today. I encourage my colleagues to support this 
legislation, so the stories of Chavez's struggles and triumphs need to 
be communicated and preserved for all Americans.




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