This week we all won a tremendous victory re-electing Jerry Brown as California governor and returning Barbara Boxer to the U.S. Senate. Sonia and I had the pleasure of working side by side across the state talking with candidates, farm workers and volunteers who labored so hard to get out the Latino vote. California voters did more than buck a national tide. We also sent a clear message that immigrant bashing and appealing to prejudice by scapegoating immigrants and Latinos doesn’t work. The United Farm Workers organized an intensive two-week campaign to turn out Latino voters, mostly in agricultural communities from the Coachella Valley in the south to the Sonoma Valley in the north. Latinos were an important part of the margins of victory for both Brown and Boxer. Cesar Chavez and Jerry Brown shared a common conviction in the 1970s that poor people can solve their own problems if handed the tools to empower themselves. We look forward to working with Gov.-elect Brown and Senator Boxer for labor reform in Sacramento and immigration reform in Washington, D.C.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers