UFW president among civil rights leaders and luminaries to attend White House’s 1963 March on Washington commemoration
Dr. King would have supported United Farm Workers fight for immigration reform
Keene, CA – On the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez reflects on the American civil rights progress made by Dr. King, convinced that if the legendary leader were alive today, he would have supported immigration reform for farm workers and the estimated 11 million new immigrants.
“If there is one lesson we learned from Dr. King, it is that our struggle for civil rights is indivisible,” said Rodriguez who was invited to a special celebration today, Aug. 27, at the White House to honor Dr. King’s March on Washington and join President Obama, former U.S. presidents, civil rights leaders and other luminaries at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday, Aug. 28, during a public commemoration.
According to Rodriguez, in September1966, Dr. King sent a telegram to Cesar Chavez, who was in the midst of his decades-long nonviolent battle to free farm workers, Latinos and other poor working people from the bonds of abuse and poverty. "As brothers in the fight for equality,” Dr. King wrote, “I extend the hand of fellowship and goodwill and wish continuing success to you and your members…You and your valiant fellow workers have demonstrated your commitment to righting grievous wrongs forced upon exploited people. We are together with you in spirit and in determination that our dreams for a better tomorrow will be realized."
Cesar Chavez became friends over the years with Coretta Scott King, Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson and other major figures during the 1960s of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. They worked closely together and supported each others’ causes. Recently, the SCLC CEO Dr. Charles Steele Jr. conferred with the leaders of the farm worker movement, including Paul F. Chavez, Cesar’s son and president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, and Rodriguez.
"Out of that session came SCLC’s commitment to one of the paramount civil rights causes in our own day and time: The continuing campaign for immigration reform. Eleven million American workers and their loved ones endure grievous exploitation and suffering because of their immigration status, which subjects them to grinding poverty and forces families to be torn apart," Rodriguez said.
"By embracing these principles of immigration reform—especially the path to citizenship—SCLC helps unite the King and Chavez movements into a powerful modern-day force to achieve social and economic justice for all Americans," he concluded.
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