Cesar Estrada Chavez learned about justice or rather injustice early in his life. Cesar grew
up in Arizona; the small adobe home, where Cesar was born was swindled from
them by dishonest Anglos. Cesar's father agreed to clear eighty acres of
land and in exchange he would receive the deed to forty acres of land that
adjoined the home. The agreement was broken and the land sold to a man named
Justus Jackson. Cesar's dad went to a lawyer who advised him to borrow money
and buy the land. Later when Cesar's father could not pay the interest on
the loan the lawyer bought back the land and sold it to the original owner.
Cesar learned a lesson about injustice that he would never forget. Later, he
would say, The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of
our being but it is also the most true to our nature.
In 1938 he and his family moved to California. He lived in La Colonia Barrio
in Oxnard for a short period, returning to Arizona several months later.
They returned to California in June 1939 and this time settled in San Jose.
They lived in the barrio called Sal Si Puedes Ð"Get Out If You Can." Cesar
thought the only way to get out of the circle of poverty was to work his way
up and send the kids to college. He and his family worked in the fields of
California from Brawley to Oxnard, Atascadero, Gonzales, King City, Salinas,
McFarland, Delano, Wasco, Selma, Kingsburg, and Mendota.
He did not like school as a child, probably because he spoke only Spanish at
home. The teachers were mostly Anglo and only spoke English. Spanish was
forbidden in school. He remembers being punished with a ruler to his
knuckles for violating the rule. He also remembers that some schools were
segregated and he felt that in the integrated schools he was like a monkey
in a cage. He remembers having to listen to a lot of racist remarks. He
remembers seeing signs that read whites only. He and his brother, Richard,
attended thirtyÐseven schools. He felt that education had nothing to do with
his farm worker/migrant way of life. In 1942 he graduated from the eighth
grade. Because his father, Librado, had been in an accident and because he
did not want his mother, Juana, to work in the fields, he could not to go to
high school, and instead became a migrant farm worker.
While his childhood school education was not the best, later in life,
education was his passion. The walls of his office in La Paz (United Farm
Worker Headquarters ) are lined with hundreds of books ranging from
philosophy, economics, cooperatives, and unions, to biographies on Gandhi
and the Kennedys'. He believed that, "The end of all education should surely
be service to others," a belief that he practiced until his untimely death.
He served in the nave the Navy from 1944-46. In 1948 Cesar married Helen Fabela. They settled in Delano and started their family. Eventually Cesar returned to San Jose where he met and was influenced by Father Donald
McDonnell. They talked about farm workers and strikes. Cesar began reading
about St. Francis and Gandhi and nonviolence. After Father McDonnell came
another very influential person, Fred Ross.
Cesar became an organizer for Ross' organization, the Community Service
Organization Ð CSO. His first task was voter registration.
In 1962 Cesar founded the National Farm Workers Association, later
to become the United Farm Workers Ð the UFW. He was joined by
Dolores Huerta and the union was born. That same year Richard Chavez
designed the UFW Eagle and Cesar chose the black and red colors. Cesar told
the story of the birth of the eagle. He asked Richard to design the flag,
but Richard could not make an eagle that he liked. Finally he sketched one
on a piece of brown wrapping paper. He then squared off the wing edges so
that the eagle would be easier for union members to draw on the handmade red
flags that would give courage to the farm workers with their own powerful
symbol. Cesar made reference to the flag by stating, "A symbol is an
important thing. That is why we chose an Aztec eagle. It gives pride . . .
When people see it they know it means dignity."
For a long time in 1962, there were very few union dues paying members. By
1970 the UFW got grape growers to accept union contracts and had effectively
organized most of that industry, at one point in time claiming 50,000 dues
paying members. The reason was Cesar Chavez's tireless leadership and
nonviolent tactics that included the Delano grape strike, his fasts that
focused national attention on farm workers problems, and the 340-mile march
from Delano to Sacramento in 1966. The farm workers and supporters carried
banners with the black eagle with HUELGA (strike) and VIVA LA CAUSA (Long
live our cause). The marchers wanted the state government to pass laws which
would permit farm workers to organize into a union and allow collective
bargaining agreements. Cesar made people aware of the struggles of farm
workers for better pay and safer working conditions. He succeeded through
nonviolent tactics (boycotts, pickets, and strikes). Cesar Chavez and the
union sought recognition of the importance and dignity of all farm workers.
It was the beginning of La Causa a cause that was supported by organized
labor, religious groups, minorities, and students. Cesar Chavez had the
foresight to train his union workers and then to send many of them into the
cities where they were to use the boycott and picket as their weapon.
Cesar was willing to sacrifice his own life so that the union would continue
and that violence was not used. Cesar fasted many times. In 1968 Cesar went
on a water only, 25 day fast. He repeated the fast in 1972 for 24 days, and
again in 1988, this time for 36 days. What motivated him to do this? He
said, Farm workers everywhere are angry and worried that we cannot win
without violence. We have proved it before through persistence, hard work,
faith and willingness to sacrifice. We can win and keep our own selfÐrespect
and build a great union that will secure the spirit of all people if we do
it through a rededication and recommitment to the struggle for justice
through nonviolence.
