[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6465]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING CESAR CHAVEZ ON THE ELEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KAREN McCARTHY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 2, 2004

  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to announce a 
celebration to honor Cesar Chavez on April 24, 2004, in Kansas City, 
Missouri. This celebration commemorates his legacy and the eleventh 
anniversary of his death, April 23, 1993.
  Cesar has become a champion of working people everywhere. Born into 
Depression-era poverty in Arizona in 1927, he served in the United 
States Navy in the Second World War, and rose to become one of our 
greatest advocates of nonviolent change.
  The farm workers who labored in the fields and yearned for respect 
and self-sufficiency pinned their hopes on this remarkable man, who, 
with faith and discipline, with soft-spoken humility and amazing inner 
strength, led a very courageous life. And in so doing, he brought 
dignity to the lives of so many others and provided inspiration for the 
rest of our Nation's history.
  After achieving only an eighth-grade education, Cesar left school to 
work in the fields full-time to support his family. It was there that 
he noticed the labor contractors and the land owners exploited the 
workers. He tried reasoning with the farm owners about higher pay and 
better working conditions. But most of his fellow workers would not 
support him for fear of losing their jobs. Cesar's dream was to create 
an organization to protect and serve farm workers, whose struggles he 
shared. At the age of 35, he left his own well paid job to devote all 
his time to organizing the farm workers into a union. Cesar traveled 
from camp to camp recruiting workers, and the National Farm Workers 
Union was born.
  With a strong leader to represent them, the workers began to demand 
their rights for fair pay and better working conditions. Without these 
rights, no one would work in the fields. In 1965, the grape growers 
didn't listen to the union's demands, and the farmhands wanted a 
strike. The workers left the fields, and the unharvested grapes began 
to rot on the vines. Union members, Cesar included, were jailed 
repeatedly. But public officials, religious leaders, and ordinary 
citizens from all across the United States flocked to California to 
march in support of the farm workers. In 1970, some grape growers 
signed agreements with the union. The union lifted the grape boycott, 
and its members began to pick grapes again. That same year, Cesar 
thought that even people who could not travel to California could show 
their support for his cause. Thus he appealed for a nationwide boycott 
of lettuce. People from all parts of the United States who sympathized 
with the cause of the farm workers refused to buy lettuce. Some even 
picketed in front of supermarkets.
  By 1973, when Cesar inspired the people of Kansas City with his 
message of equality, justice and social change in an address at Penn 
Valley Community College, the union had changed its name to the United 
Farm Workers of America. Relations with the grape growers had once 
again deteriorated, so a grape boycott was added to the boycott of 
lettuce. On several occasions, Cesar fasted to protest the violence 
that arose. Finally, by 1978, some of the workers' conditions were met, 
and the United Farm Workers lifted the boycotts on lettuce and grapes. 
This is just one example of how dedicated Cesar was to the union and 
the people who counted on him.
  Up until the day he died, he was concerned as ever about dignity, 
justice, and fairness. He said, ``Fighting for social justice, it seems 
to me, is one of the profoundest ways in which man can say yes to man's 
dignity, and that really means sacrifice. There is no way on this earth 
in which you can say yes to man's dignity and know that you're going to 
be spared some sacrifice.''
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring a small man with a big dream, 
Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez is a dedicated and true American hero: A 
civil rights, Latino and labor leader, a community servant and a 
crusader for nonviolent social change.

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