CESAR CHAVEZ died 21 years ago. But his spirit and vision live on in the
United Farm Workers union he founded and in the Cesar Chavez holiday
celebrated at the end of March each year.
Chavez was the visionary leader behind the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. He's also a good candidate for a social work hero.
I first heard about Cesar Chavez in the late 1960s, when members of the UFW came to Minneapolis seeking support for a boycott of head lettuce. Later, there was a boycott of table grapes.
The UFW didn’t send just the farmworkers – two entire families came to
spread the labor union’s message. My first assignment was to find winterclothing for the families. I went on to picketing, asking churches and
schools not to serve grapes, and urging grocers to carry only lettuce with
the UFW Black Eagle on the box.
Despite all this, I still was not prepared for the man I found when I first met Cesar Chavez. I met him several times while serving as editor of the
East San Jose Sun, a weekly newspaper serving the city where Chavez got his start as an activist.
For an activist, he was very reserved. And for a union leader, he seemed quite uncomfortable in the spotlight. Yet he was very inspiring. I remember
thinking one time when I was listening to him: If there are saints in our
time, Chavez surely must be one.
Over the years, he and others told me about his life and his organizer. Chavez moved to San Jose, California in 1952 to organize a local chapter of
the Community Service Organization (CSO). The group was born in Los Angeles, growing out of a city council campaign there. Fred Ross, an organizer from Saul Alinsky’s organization in Chicago, played a key role in getting the group started.
From Los Angeles, Ross went to work organizing other CSO chapters around the state. He hired Cesar Chavez to help. Chavez moved to San Jose and organized a CSO chapter there. At one time, the San Jose chapter was the biggest of a string of CSOs around California. The chapter offered immigration assistance, citizenship classes and similar projects.
Chavez left San Jose in 1962, intent on starting a labor union for farmworkers. He had been concerned about the plight of farmworkers, many
from Mexico or of Mexican descent, for a number of years. But he had been
unable to persuade CSO to become a leading voice on behalf of “campesinos.”
So he quit his CSO job and heading to the Salinas Valley to start organizing.
He organized nationwide boycotts of grapes, Gallo wine and head
lettuce to draw attention to the poor wages and working conditions of farmworkers – and to pressure growers to sign contracts with the union. The
boycotts were successful and the UFW signed contracts covering thousands of workers.
By the mid-1970s, it appeared that the struggle for better wages and working conditions for farmworkers had been won. But a series of setbacks during the 1980s slowed the UFW momentum and even erased some of its earlier gains. By 1990, it was clear that some new strategy was needed. So Chavez and other union leaders decided to return to San Jose where he had begun 30 years before.
The last time I saw Chavez was in 1992, less than a year before he died. Thescene was a familiar one – in front of a grocery store in San Jose. It was a sort of homecoming for Chavez; his appearance brought out many activist
friends. In his talk, he linked the dreams of rural farmworkers to the sense
of justice in urban consumers. He urged us to act on our shared hopes for abetter community. Once again I had that feeling: I am in the presence of an
extraordinary person.
Chavez died in 1993. But his legacy continues, both in the UFW and in the
day set aside each March to remember his life and work. This year it’s March 31. You can find out more by visiting these websites: www.ufw.org and www.cesarchavezfoundation.org