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EDITORIAL: Cesar Chavez Monument Marks Significant Life

Posted on: Saturday, 28 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.

Jan. 28--Cesar Chavez, like Martin Luther King Jr., is a person who continues to draw strong feelings, pro and con, from people even after his death.

So undoubtedly some will be pleased and some displeased that a monument in the memory of the union leader is being erected in San Luis, Ariz. But for many residents of the San Luis community, which has a strong farm labor base, there is no question that it is deserved.

Chavez himself was a farm laborer and understood the hardships in the fields. This, coupled with his experiences with injustice and discrimination, lead Chavez to fight to unionize farm workers, eventually forming the United Farm Workers union.

The workers he helped idolized him, but the farmers were not as happy about the changes demanded by the union. The conflict lasted for many years and resentments remain even today.

Although he championed peaceful protest, the reality is that some acts of vandalism and violence did occur, including some here in our area. A nationwide boycott Chavez championed against grape growers also left a bad taste in the mouths of those in the agriculture industry.

It will be up to history to decide what the final impact of the Chavez movement will be, but the fact remains that he was a remarkable person who brought changes to the fields of America. For our community, it is also significant that his life not only began, but also ended here.

He was born in 1927 in the Gila Valley where his father had a farm. He died 66 years later in San Luis while on an official visit. His early life was like that of many children growing up in farm labor families here, even today. He had difficulty in school because Spanish was spoken at home. He faced intolerance and injustice. When the family lost their farm here -- Chavez said his father was cheated out of it -- they began a new life as migrant workers in California. His experiences convinced him of the need to fight for voter rights, judicial justice and labor changes.

The monument to Chavez in San Luis is being put up through a grass-roots effort. Volunteers went door to door seeking contributions and held fundraisers to pay for it over a year's time. They raised $60,000 and ground was broken for the work to begin last week. Money is still needed to illuminate the statue and contributions can be made by contacting Maria Robles at 627-1258.

This grass-roots effort would have made Chavez proud. It was many people coming together to achieve a goal, just as happened with the workers in the fields.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.)

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