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March 31, 1927 - April 2, 1993
or our second bi-weekly issue, La Voz de Aztlan is paying tribute to Cesar Chavez, the great Mexican-American labor leader who changed for the better the lives of thousands of migrant farm workers. Prior to Cesar, entire families, mostly of Mexican descent, would follow the crops from farm to farm, city to city and state to state and lived in dilapidated and crowded shacks or in abandoned railroad box cars brought in by the growers. The workers who performed back breaking work from sun--up to sun-down were paid meager wages and had absolutely no medical or other employment benefits. Cesar Chavez accomplished what others before him could not do. He organized the farm workers into a powerful union that was then able to bargain collectively for better wages and working conditions.
The struggle for Cesar Chavez and the farm workers was far from easy. After a fast of 36 days, which brought national attention to the plight of the migrant farm workers, the farm labor leader could never regain his full strength and this contributed to his early death. The fast, his spirituality and style of leadership gained him and his movement, which was called "La Causa", widespread support among churches, political figures and college and university students. This widespread support allowed Cesar Chavez to call for a worldwide boycott of California grapes and this brought great pressure on the growers to bargain. The cry for "Boycott Grapes" was heard around the world and the growers were forced to bargain for union contracts.
Cesar Chavez is revered in the Mexican and Chicano communities for the sacrifices he went through on behalf of La Raza. On November 12, 1990 the Mexican President awarded Chavez the Aguila Azteca, the highest Mexican civilian award and on August 8, 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom posthumously to Chavez. Today there is an effort to make March 31st a paid holiday in the state of
California and already there are steps being taken to also make his birthday a paid national holiday.
"There is a time when the operation of the machine
becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart,
that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part,
and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels,
upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop.
And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it,
that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"
Mario Savio
Sproul Hall Steps
University of California, Berkeley
December 3, 1964
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The image above is from the latest cover of the talented L.A. music group, "Rage Against the Machine." Please visit their web site at http://www.ratm.com
The creative group of four musicians contribute greatly in making positive changes in society by
performing at fund raising events for worthy causes. August 14 - 17 is the date of the Democratic
National Convention 2000 at the L.A. Staples Center.
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or our second bi-weekly issue, La Voz de Aztlan is paying tribute to Cesar Chavez, the great Mexican-American labor leader who changed for the better the lives of thousands of migrant farm workers. Prior to Cesar, entire families, mostly of Mexican descent, would follow the crops from farm to farm, city to city and state to state and lived in dilapidated and crowded shacks or in abandoned railroad box cars brought in by the growers. The workers who performed back breaking work from sun--up to sun-down were paid meager wages and had absolutely no medical or other employment benefits. Cesar Chavez accomplished what others before him could not do. He organized the farm workers into a powerful union that was then able to bargain collectively for better wages and working conditions.