[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 65 (Thursday, April 4, 2013)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 20223-20224]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07925]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 65 / Thursday, April 4, 2013 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 20223]]


                Proclamation 8953 of March 29, 2013

                
Cesar Chavez Day, 2013

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Every year, Americans all across our country pause on 
                March 31 to remember a man who made justice his life's 
                calling. Growing up the son of migrant farm workers who 
                lost everything in the Great Depression, Cesar Chavez 
                knew hard work and hardship from an early age. He 
                labored long hours for little pay, taking odd jobs to 
                help his family get by and forgoing a formal education 
                to follow the crop cycles. But where others might have 
                given up or given in, Cesar Chavez never lost hope in 
                the power of opportunity. He lived each day by a belief 
                as old as America itself--the idea that with courage 
                and determination, any of us can reach beyond our 
                circumstances and leave our children something better.

                More than anything, we remember Cesar Chavez for 
                lending voice to the voiceless. When no one seemed to 
                care about the invisible farm workers who picked our 
                Nation's food, beset by poverty and cheated by growers, 
                a courageous man dedicated to dignity stood up and 
                spoke out. Alongside Dolores Huerta and fellow 
                organizers, he rallied a generation of workers around 
                ``La Causa,'' marching and fasting and boycotting for 
                fair pay and protections on the job. They fought 
                through decades of setbacks and fierce resistance. But 
                through every trial, Cesar Chavez refused to curb his 
                ambitions or scale back his hope. Step by step, march 
                by march, he helped lead a community of farm workers to 
                make the change they sought.

                Cesar Chavez's legacy lives on at Nuestra Se[ntilde]ora 
                Reina de la Paz, his home and workplace, which I was 
                proud to designate a National Monument last October. It 
                also lives on in those who remember his central 
                teaching: that when workers are treated fairly and 
                humanely, our country grows more just, opportunity 
                becomes more equal, and all of us do better. Because 
                even with the strides we have made, we know there is 
                more left to do when working men and women toil in 
                poverty without adequate protections or simple respect. 
                We know there is more to do when our broken immigration 
                system forces workers into a shadow economy where 
                companies can ignore labor laws and undermine 
                businesses following the rules. Fixing those problems 
                means securing what Cesar Chavez fought for at La Paz. 
                It means taking on injustice, making sure hard work is 
                rewarded, and bringing more Americans into a rising 
                middle class.

                In 1966, when Cesar Chavez was struggling to bring 
                attention to his cause, he received a telegram from Dr. 
                Martin Luther King, Jr. ``As brothers in the fight for 
                equality, I extend the hand of fellowship and 
                goodwill,'' he wrote. ``We are with you in spirit and 
                in determination that our dreams for a better tomorrow 
                will be realized.'' It is a story that reminds us how 
                here in America, we are bound together not by the 
                colors of our skin or the languages we speak, but by 
                the values we share and the brighter future we seek for 
                our children. So today, as we honor a man who risked 
                everything to stand up for what he believed in, let us 
                reflect on our common cause and recommit to moving 
                forward together--as one Nation and one people.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution

[[Page 20224]]

                and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim 
                March 31, 2013, as Cesar Chavez Day. I call upon all 
                Americans to observe this day with appropriate service, 
                community, and education programs to honor Cesar 
                Chavez's enduring legacy.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2013-07925
Filed 4-3-13; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F3