The Cesar Chavez Legacy
A New Generation: Grandson Encourages Activism
Written by Andres Chavez, Sun Staff Reporter
Today, March 31st, is Cesar Chavez’s birthday and a state holiday.
City of San Fernando employees have the day off and all Los Angeles public schools, county and state offices are closed. Unlike other holidays that is thought of as simply a day off, people are encouraged to celebrate Cesar Chavez’ commitment to social justice and human dignity, by volunteering for a day of community service.
Leading up to the holiday, California public schools have included the work of Cesar Chavez in the curriculum through education about the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), and community service. Various states across the country also have activities to honor the late labor leader, and there is an ongoing effort and petition drive underway to make his birthday a national holiday.
As part of the activities, Anthony Chavez, his grandson, has been traveling and speaking before numerous student and community groups on behalf of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, which was established to continue Chavez’s work. Last Sunday, Anthony was the keynote speaker at the 18th annual Cesar E.
Chavez Pilgrimage and March for Justice in Mission Hills. Organized by the Cesar Chavez Commemorative Committee of the San Fernando Valley, the march is the longest continuous tribute to Chavez anywhere in California.
There is a long history of organizing and support for the United Farm Workers union in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. Since the days of the 1970’s Grape Boycott, the local community, including Chicano students from Cal State University, Northridge, has been a center of strong support for Chavez and the union. Cesar Chavez spoke frequently at the university campus and participated in UFW marches held in the City of San Fernando. Addressing the crowd, last weekend, his grandson said he was encouraged to see a high percentage of young people participating. Students made up as much as 75 percent of the crowd.
"It’s encouraging to see so many students attend the Cesar E. Chavez March for Justice because you are the future of our nation," Anthony said.
In the present political climate, Anthony told the audience maintaining his grandfather’s legacy has become more urgent.
"In view of the laws passed in Wisconsin and other states limiting the right of workers to bargain collectively, it is especially important to focus attention on my grandfather’s lifelong commitment to improve the lives of workers through collective bargaining," he said. Anthony’s father, Paul, Cesar’s middle son, heads the foundation.
Like his father, Anthony grew up marching for the UFW, in picket lines and political campaigns. The 25-year-old is continuing his grandfather’s legacy of community service and political involvement.
During the 2008 Presidential race, Anthony worked for the Obama campaign in the key swing state of Colorado. He has also worked as campaign manager for a successful Phoenix city council candidate, and as an intern with one of California’s most prominent political strategists in Sacramento.
In an interview with the San Fernando Sun/El Sol, Anthony said the anti-labor laws indicate that some politicians are trying to rescind worker’s rights and basic human rights.
"We’re taking steps backwards, people are being taken advantage of by their elected officials," he said. "Things are so polarized that there’s hardly any decency. They’re taking advantage of already unfortunate times and trying to make it harder on working class people.
"It’s really sad, it really takes away from a lot of people’s core values, from the American ideal, the American dream: work hard and by the time you’re done with your life, leave something behind that’s better for your children. Right now, the way things are going, it doesn’t seem that things are going to improve."
At the center of Chavez’s work was the continued study of spiritualism, and the work of Mahatma Ghandi. Chavez often fasted as a means to his nonviolent protest.
Anthony shares his grandfather’s interest in religious thought and spiritualism. He graduated in 2007 from California State University, Bakersfield with a B.A. in religious studies. Over the past four years, Anthony served as a travel assistant to Benedictine Brother David Steindl- Rast, a world-renowned author, lecturer and spiritual guru, on national and international tours.
Connecting the Classroom to the Real World
True to Chavez’s ideals, Anthony wants students not only to learn about his grandfather’s life, but also experience his work for themselves by being active in their community.
"We want it to be a ‘day on,’ not a ‘day off,’ where the students get a chance to live out the legacy of the person they were celebrating and honoring," Anthony said. "I let young people know what they are able to achieve. I ask them if there are any projects we could work on."
Anthony points out that many schools are now requiring community service hours, especially for high school students who are planning to go to college. "So we’re using that [requirement] to revitalize the classroom, to connect it to ‘the real world.’"
He tells students the story of Chavez and the farm workers’ union. He wants them to know that, for a hundred years before Chavez, all attempts to form a farm union had failed, that strikes and efforts to form unions were crushed by violence and other forms of coercion. When other workers got protection for their unions under the Wagner Act, farm workers were specifically excluded.
Many people don’t know that, at a certain point, Chavez had left farm labor and was working as a community organizer. It was steady job and he doing pretty well for himself. The Kennedy administration offered him a position with the Peace Corp, working in Latin America. "But he turned it down, because it wasn’t enough for Cesar Chavez’s family to get out of the fields and live a comfortable middle class life style,"
Anthony said. "He knew there were still too many farm worker families struggling to make a living, and leave something behind for their children so they could have a better life."
So Chavez returned to the fields to organize a union. Through his commitment to nonviolence, moral leadership and his ability to mobilize public opinion behind the farm worker cause, he won where so many others had lost.
"He was able to accomplish the first major representative farm worker’s organization, and it’s lasted throughout his lifetime and has continued until now," Anthony said. "It continues to be involved (not only) in farm worker issues, but also around other issues like immigration reform and a whole variety of issues.
"I would say he not only has been successful as a labor leader but (more broadly) as a social movement leader too."
Chavez always maintained that the Union would continue beyond his lifetime, which he considered a testament to putting the Union first through organizing.
Simply Grandpa
While his name is mentioned alongside Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., and he is regarded as one of the great union leaders of the 20th century, as a nonviolent icon, and an inspiration to millions of people, Chavez was simply "grandpa" to a seven-year-old Anthony.
"He was so loving, easy going, or at least that’s how it appeared to me as a young child," Anthony said. "He always had time for us. Even though now, looking back, I understand how busy he was."
Anthony recalls that, even when Chavez had union business to conduct, he made it seem like family time. He remembered the time Chavez took him to meet a group of women organizers.
"He made a great time out it. He made sure we enjoyed ourselves, even though he told us ‘we’re going to do something important. We’re going to meet these ladies who are doing good work.’
"I don’t remember the exact words but it was something to that effect. He made it kind of fun and an adventure." Anthony said. The family of public leaders always makes sacrifices, and Chavez’s family had to adjust to his long absences to organize and lobby for the rights of farm workers, and in his later years the fight against hazardous pesticides. Anthony’s warmest memories of his grandfather are during the holidays, and how much Chavez liked making jokes.
"Christmas and Easter, playing softball, soccer, gathering together at my grandparent’s house, eating tamales and just spend time together," Anthony said. "He was always being the jokester, playing around, balancing cups of tea on his head, teasing us, laughing, having a good time.
Those are my memories of my grandfather. Those are really the lasting impressions I have of my grandfather."
Anthony Chavez will continue to work with young people, be it in the classroom, youth authority camps or where ever else he needs to go. He wants to bring the message that they can make a change for the better.
"My grandfather spent his life trying to help families just like his own so they would have a better opportunity. He spent his life focused on trying to deal with the problems of the community at large. I think that’s what I try to share with the students in the classroom," he said.
"The way to change ‘the little me’ into ‘the big we’ is getting their education so they can empower themselves and go out and become agents of change in their communities."