It’s not the first time the White House has honored the labor leader, but every recognition assures Americans that Cesar Chavez indeed does have a place in American History. As today’s Cesar Chavez Proclamation reads:
“The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of our being, but it is also the most true to our nature,” Cesar Chavez once said. Since our Nation’s earliest days of independence, we have struggled to perfect the ideals of equal justice and opportunity enshrined in our founding documents. As Cesar suggests, justice may be true to our nature, but as history teaches us, it will not prevail unless we defend its cause.
Few Americans have led this charge so tirelessly, and for so many, as Cesar Chavez. To this day, his rallying cry — “Si se puede,” or “Yes, we can” — inspires hope and a spirit of possibility in people around the world. His movement strengthened our country, and his vision lives on in the organizers and social entrepreneurs who still empower their neighbors to improve their communities.
Yes, some of us would also like a Cesar Chavez Holiday, but United Farm Worker’s President Arturo Rodriguez put it in perspective:
Cesar Chavez has been honored in hundreds of communities across the nation. His birthday is an official holiday in 11 states. But the best way to honor Cesar is by helping the farm workers to whom he dedicated his life, and by using our lives to serve others less fortunate than us.
Chavez’s son Paul added:
It was epitomized by the words from my father’s 1972 fast in Arizona, “Si Se Puede!” (“Yes We Can”), which have been adopted by activists worldwide.
But my dad was also convinced we have a moral duty to give ourselves selflessly for others in a cause that’s bigger than we are. He said, “Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and our own.”
That’s how a man with an eighth grade education who adopted a life of self-imposed poverty nonviolently challenged, and overcame, one of the richest industries in California and in the process inspired millions to social and political activism.
¡Si Se Puede!
