[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 45 (Thursday, March 31, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2054-S2055]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 124--HONORING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND LEGACY OF CESAR 
                             ESTRADA CHAVEZ

  Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Reid of Nevada, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
Bingaman, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Udall of Colorado, Mrs. 
Feinstein, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, Mr. Merkley, and Mr. 
Akaka) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.

                              S. Res. 124

       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez was born on March 31, 1927, 
     near Yuma, Arizona;
       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez spent his early years on a 
     family farm;
       Whereas, at the age of 10, Cesar Estrada Chavez joined the 
     thousands of migrant farmworkers laboring in fields and 
     vineyards throughout the Southwest, when a bank foreclosure 
     resulted in the loss of the family farm;

[[Page S2055]]

       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez, after attending more than 30 
     elementary and middle schools and achieving an 8th grade 
     education, left school to work full-time as a farmworker to 
     help support his family;
       Whereas, at the age of 17, Cesar Estrada Chavez entered the 
     United States Navy and served the United States with 
     distinction for 2 years;
       Whereas, in 1948, Cesar Estrada Chavez returned from 
     military service to marry Helen Fabela, whom he had met while 
     working in the vineyards of central California;
       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez and Helen Fabela had 8 
     children;
       Whereas, as early as 1949, Cesar Estrada Chavez was 
     committed to organizing farmworkers to campaign for safe and 
     fair working conditions, reasonable wages, livable housing, 
     and the outlawing of child labor;
       Whereas, in 1952, Cesar Estrada Chavez joined the Community 
     Service Organization, a prominent Latino civil rights group, 
     and worked with the organization--
       (1) to coordinate voter registration drives; and
       (2) to conduct campaigns against discrimination in East Los 
     Angeles;
       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez served as the national 
     director of the Community Service Organization;
       Whereas, in 1962, Cesar Estrada Chavez left the Community 
     Service Organization to found the National Farm Workers 
     Association, which eventually became the United Farm Workers 
     of America;
       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez was a strong believer in the 
     principles of nonviolence practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. 
     Martin Luther King, Jr.;
       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez effectively used peaceful 
     tactics that included fasting for 25 days in 1968, 25 days in 
     1972, and 38 days in 1988, to call attention to the terrible 
     working and living conditions of farmworkers in the United 
     States;
       Whereas under the leadership of Cesar Estrada Chavez, the 
     United Farm Workers of America organized thousands of migrant 
     farmworkers to fight for fair wages, health care coverage, 
     pension benefits, livable housing, and respect;
       Whereas, through his commitment to nonviolence, Cesar 
     Estrada Chavez--
       (1) brought dignity and respect to the organized 
     farmworkers; and
       (2) became an inspiration and a resource to individuals 
     engaged in human rights struggles throughout the world;
       Whereas the influence of Cesar Estrada Chavez extends far 
     beyond agriculture and provides inspiration for those 
     working--
       (1) to better human rights;
       (2) to empower workers; and
       (3) to advance the American Dream that includes all 
     inhabitants of the United States;
       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez died on April 23, 1993, at the 
     age of 66 in San Luis, Arizona, only miles from his 
     birthplace;
       Whereas more than 50,000 people attended the funeral 
     services of Cesar Estrada Chavez in Delano, California;
       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez was laid to rest at the 
     headquarters of the United Farm Workers of America, known as 
     Nuestra Senora de La Paz, located in the Tehachapi Mountains 
     at Keene, California;
       Whereas since the death of Cesar Estrada Chavez, schools, 
     parks, streets, libraries, and other public facilities, as 
     well as awards and scholarships, have been named in his 
     honor;
       Whereas since the death of Cesar Estrada Chavez, 10 States 
     and dozens of communities across the United States honor the 
     life and legacy of Cesar Estrada Chavez on March 31 of each 
     year;
       Whereas Cesar Estrada Chavez was a recipient of the Martin 
     Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize during his lifetime;
       Whereas, on August 8, 1994, Cesar Estrada Chavez was 
     posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom;
       Whereas President Barack Obama honored the life of service 
     of Cesar Estrada Chavez by proclaiming March 31, 2010, to be 
     ``Cesar Chavez Day''; and
       Whereas the United States should continue efforts to ensure 
     equality, justice, and dignity for all people of the United 
     States: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the accomplishments and example of a great 
     hero of the United States, Cesar Estrada Chavez;
       (2) pledges to promote the legacy of Cesar Estrada Chavez; 
     and
       (3) encourages the people of the United States to 
     commemorate the legacy of Cesar Estrada Chavez and to always 
     remember his great rallying cry, in the English translation, 
     ``Yes, we can.''

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