[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4875]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        CESAR CHAVEZ'S BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. AL GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 2, 2008

  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, this Monday, March 31, 2008, 
marked the 81st birthday of the late Cesar Chavez, a national hero who 
devoted his life to fighting for civil rights for all Americans. Today, 
I join the millions of Americans who will honor this migrant 
farmworker, labor organizer, and champion of social justice for his 
many contributions.
  Cesar Chavez was a civil rights and human rights leader who learned 
about the importance of justice early in his life. After graduating 
from the eighth grade, a young Cesar Chavez went to work in the fields 
as a migrant farmworker to support his family. In 1962, Chavez and 
Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association, later to 
become the United Farm Workers, UFW. Chavez had the foresight to train 
his union workers and then to send many of them into the cities where 
they were to use the boycott and picket as their weapon. The UFW would 
soon become a significant political force, demonstrating that Mexican 
Americans could and would participate in electoral politics.
  Chavez was able to successfully organize farmworkers because of his 
tireless leadership and nonviolent tactics that helped pass laws which 
would permit farmworkers to organize into unions and allow collective 
bargaining agreements. He also helped make people aware of the 
struggles of farmworkers for fair wages and safer working conditions. 
His movement was the beginning of La Causa, ``The Cause,'' a cause that 
was supported by organized labor, religious groups, minorities, and 
students.
  Cesar Chavez, the founder and president of the United Farm Workers of 
America, AFL--CIO, died peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993. On 
August 8, 1994, Cesar Chavez was posthumously awarded the Medal of 
Freedom, our country's highest civilian honor, by President Clinton. 
Since his passing, ten States across the country have paid tribute to 
his memory by celebrating a statewide holiday name in his honor, 
including my home State of Texas.
  Cesar Chavez left our world better than he found it. He taught us to 
face and overcome adversity with the rallying cry of ``Si Se Puede!'', 
or ``Yes We Can!''. His legacy inspires not just the more than 45 
million Latinos in this country but every person who believes in 
nonviolence as a means to achieve social change. He truly was, in the 
words of Senator Robert Kennedy, ``one of the heroic figures of our 
time.''

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