Bill Text: CA AR11 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relative to César Chávez.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 51-14-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-26 - Read. Amended. Adopted. (Page 710.). [AR11 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AR11-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: HR 11 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 19, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Achadjian, Alejo, Atkins,
Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla,
Bonta, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau,
Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Gallagher,
Cristina Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gray, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Kim,
Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez,
Low, Maienschein, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian,
Obernolte, O'Donnell, Perea,
Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth,
Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Waldron,
Weber, Williams, and Wood
)
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
Relative to César Chávez.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST
WHEREAS, César Estrada Chávez recognized that for many people,
spanning many generations and many ethnicities, the path to a better
life frequently begins in the fields. For many farmworkers, the
American Dream means a life of self-sacrifice, hard work, and
perseverance; and
WHEREAS, César Chávez experienced the hardships and injustices of
farmworker life firsthand. He was born on March 31, 1927, in the
North Gila River Valley in Arizona, on the small family farm his
grandfather homesteaded. César Chávez's father lost the farm during
the Great Depression, forcing the family to join some 30,000
farmworkers who followed the crops throughout California and lived in
tents and makeshift housing that often lacked a bathroom,
electricity, or running water; and
WHEREAS, César Chávez understood the value of education as a path
to a better life because he quit school after completing the 8th
grade to work full time, helping to support his family in the fields.
Later in life, César Chávez became self-educated through his passion
for reading; and
WHEREAS, Although later a pacifist, in 1946, César Chávez enrolled
and served his country in the United States Navy. He was honorably
discharged whereupon he married Helen Fabela and eventually settled
in the East San Jose barrio nicknamed "Sal Si Puedes" ("Get Out if
You Can") to raise a family that eventually numbered eight children;
and
WHEREAS, In San Jose, César Chávez was introduced to the social
teachings of the Catholic Church and trained in peaceful community
organizing strategies and tactics. César Chávez and Fred Ross, an
organizer for the Community Service Organization (CSO), established
CSO chapters across California and Arizona during the 1950s, helping
Latinos register to vote, pushing for basic public services and
infrastructure in the barrios, peacefully battling police brutality
and racial discrimination, and creating the most effective Latino
civil rights group of its era; and
WHEREAS, In 1962, after failing to convince the CSO to let him
organize farmworkers, César Chávez resigned from the only decent
paying job he ever held and moved his wife and eight children to
Delano, California. There, with $1,200 in life savings that was soon
gone, César Chávez, his family, and close friends began building the
National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm
Workers of America (UFW); and
WHEREAS, In 1965, in a partnership with a union of Filipino
American farmworkers, César Chávez organized a major strike against
grape growers in California. The following year, César Chávez led an
unprecedented 340-mile march, from Delano to Sacramento, that placed
the farmworkers' plight before the conscience of the American people.
Supporters carried slogans with the words "HUELGA" (strike) and
"VIVA LA CAUSA" (long live our cause), advocating for improved
compensation and labor conditions. Later efforts resulted in the
enactment of California's historic Agricultural Labor Relations Act
of 1975, the first and still the only law in the nation to "encourage
and protect" the right of farmworkers to organize and bargain with
their employers; and
WHEREAS, Through countless strikes, boycotts, marches, and fasts
that produced many victories and some defeats, César Chávez, who even
considered vegetarianism an integral part of living nonviolently,
never stopped his peaceful battles on behalf of the farmworkers with
whom he shared his life. His dedication to his work earned him the
respect of some of our greatest political and civil rights leaders,
including Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesse Jackson.
César Chávez's motto in life, "Sí Se Puede!" or "Yes We Can!" has
served as an inspiration not only for Latinos, but for working
Americans of all walks of life; and
WHEREAS, In 1993, César Chávez died peacefully in his sleep in San
Luis, Arizona. Forty thousand people marched behind his plain pine
casket during funeral services in Delano to honor this man. They came
to affirm César Chávez's words from his landmark 1984 address to the
Commonwealth Club in San Francisco: "Once social change begins, it
cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned
to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot
oppress the people who are not afraid anymore"; and
WHEREAS, Although César Chávez was uncomfortable with personal
recognition in life, since his passing Chávez has been honored in
hundreds of communities. César Chávez was awarded "El Aguila Azteca"
(the Aztec Eagle), Mexico's highest award presented to people of
Mexican heritage. In 1994, President Bill Clinton posthumously
presented César Chávez with America's highest civilian honor, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2006, California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger inducted César Chávez into the first class of the
California Hall of Fame. In 2011, the United States Navy announced
naming the latest Lewis and Clark-class cargo ship being built in San
Diego the USNS César Chávez; and
WHEREAS, Since César Chávez's passing, the UFW has continued his
work through organizing farmworkers and campaigns to enact laws and
regulations to bring dignity and protections to farmworkers.
Meanwhile, the César Chávez Foundation continues improving the lives
of hundreds of thousands of farmworkers and other low-wage working
families through 30 high-quality affordable housing communities it
has built or renovated and manages in four states, a network of nine
popular educational Spanish-language radio stations in three states,
after-school tutoring for disadvantaged students in two states, and
the National Chávez Center, including a visitor center, memorial
gardens, and educational center on 187 acres in the Tehachapi
Mountains where César Chávez lived and worked, and is buried; and
WHEREAS, César Chávez successfully increased public awareness of
farmworker working conditions. To many Californians the farmworkers'
struggles are an issue from the past, a belief reflected by the fact
that farmworker suffering typically takes place in remote areas far
from cities, thereby rendering farmworkers invisible to our society.
The fruits and vegetables that we enjoy in our daily lives are
produced by farmworkers who often endure long hours of backbreaking
work and still face challenges such as inadequate enforcement of
pesticide, safety, and labor protection laws in the fields; and
WHEREAS, Farmworkers still dream of providing a better life for
their children, but the reality of having to move from crop to crop
makes this dream hard to achieve. Economic forces and the rising cost
of living have pushed farmworkers further into poverty; and
WHEREAS, In 2000, the Legislature passed and Governor Gray Davis
signed into law Senate Bill 984 (Chapter 213 of the Statutes of 2000)
to create the first annual state holiday in the country on César
Chávez's birthday, March 31. Under that law, the State Board of
Education also created a statewide curriculum on Chávez and
encourages schools across the state to engage teachers and students
in service learning projects as a way of honoring the legendary farm
labor and civil rights leader; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the
Assembly calls upon all Californians to observe César Chávez's
birthday, March 31, as a day of public service; and be it further
Resolved, That the Assembly calls upon all Californians to
recognize the hard work and self-sacrifice that farmworkers go
through to feed all the families in our state; and be it further
Resolved, That the Assembly calls upon all Californians to learn
from César Chávez's life and his mission of nonviolence, social
justice, and selfless service to others; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Chávez family, particularly César Chávez's
widow, Helen Chávez, the United Farm Workers of America, the César
Chávez Foundation, and the author for appropriate distribution.
