Cesar Chavez Exhibit Highlights His Struggle for Farmer Workers
Today California celebrates the labor leader’s legacy with a state holiday in his honor.
By EFE News Agency
The important moments in the life of labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez are highlighted in a photo exhibit now open in downtown Los Angeles. The causes taken on by Chavez and the difficult working conditions of farm workers are displayed in the moving images captured by a photographer with deep ties to the labor leader and the union he co-founded.
“Cesar Chavez & Farm Workers: Humility and Sacrifice” contains images by photographer and journalist Victor Aleman — who worked with Chavez for more than 10 years as the editor of United Farm Workers (UFW) publications and also co-founded Radio Campesina — and reflects the harshness of the working life of farm workers in California.
“This is part of a collection of over 300 photographs focusing on the cause that led Cesar Chavez, whose birthday is celebrated on March 31,” Aleman told EFE.
Víctor Alemán stands next to one of his photos of César Chávez on exhibit at the Cathedral. César poses in the Santa Monica Mountains. / Víctor Alemán con una de sus imágenes de César que está siendo exhibida en la Catedral. César posa para el fotógrafo en las montañas de Santa Mónica. (Photo by Joshua Santini / www.2mun-dos.com)
Today, March 31 is a state holiday in honor of Chavez in California, and is often commemorated with public service activities aimed at following Chavez’ own legacy of service.
“This photo exhibit captures the meaning of Cesar Chavez as a champion of human dignity and justice,” said Aleman. “These images depict some of the many causes that defined Cesar’s work, from improving working and living conditions for farm workers to the banning of harmful pesticides in the fields.”
Thus, one of the photos is of a girl born with leukemia who fought against the cancer for nine years before she died, while another shows a young boy “who was born without arms and legs because his parents were working in the fields when the crops were sprayed” with pesticides.
The exhibit of 22 photographs —open to the public at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels until April 24 — displays the great works of the farm worker leader, and other important times such as his marriage, “or his funeral that was attended by more than 50,000 people.”
Aleman says his close relationship with Chavez helped him understand the unjust working conditions faced by farm workers.
“He (Chavez), to me, was a great teacher who removed the blindfold from my eyes and showed me the working conditions of farm workers in the United States,” the journalist said.
“He also taught me that farm workers are very important people to all of us; they are the workers who grow our food without which we could not survive, and they are the lowest paid, not only in this country but also in many other places.”
Regarding his assessment of the UFW’s achievements, Aleman says the labor union has improved some basic working conditions, but much remains to be done to achieve justice for farm workers.
“There has been progress on essentials such as the requirement to provide health care and the replacement of the short-handled hoe that forced people to work eight or more hours hunched over, after which it would take them up to two hours to straighten up,” said Chavez’s personal photographer.
César and Víctor in Los Angeles in 1992. César y Víctor en Los Ángeles en 1992. (Photo by Jocelyn Sherman / www.2mun-dos.com)
Aleman also said that those associated with the union obtained guarantees on wages and employee benefits, like health care and retirement programs, but, he repeats, “there is still much to accomplish.” Aleman noted how difficult it is to bring together workers in large areas such as the San Joaquin, Coachella and Imperial Valleys.
Another of the photographs in the exhibit shows a farm worker eating his lunch while sitting on the hard ground in the middle of rows of crops, “without shade and without water.”
For him, Aleman says, he tells Hispanic youth that they should take advantage of educational opportunities and go to college, to “leave that level of workers” behind.
“Latinos in this country must take in the teachings of our leaders because if we do not learn their lessons we are going to go down the wrong path; you have to go to college, study and train,” concluded the journalist.
The exhibit runs through April 24 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, located at 555 W. Temple St. in downtown Los Angeles.