President Barack Obama walks with Cesar Chavez' widow Helen F. Chavez, left, and Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers, as they tour the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument Memorial Garden, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Keene, Calif. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Barack Obama walks with Cesar Chavez' widow Helen F. Chavez, left, and Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers, as they tour the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument Memorial Garden, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Keene, Calif. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
An attendee holds a picture of Cesar E. Chavez as President Barack Obama speaks as to announce the establishment of the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Keene, Calif. The property is recognized worldwide for its historic link to civil rights icon Cesar Chavez and the farm worker movement. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
President Barack Obama speaks at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Keene, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
FILE - In this March 8, 1989 file photo, Cesar Chavez gestures as he speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles. Today, the foothills of the Tehachapi mountains continue to house the United Farm Workers of America headquarters and memorials to Chavez, though farmworkers no longer live there. President Obama is designating parts of the property as a national monument and visiting the site on Monday, a move seen as likely to shore up support from Hispanic and progressive voters just five weeks before the election. (AP Photo/Alan Greth, File)
President Barack Obama announces the establishment of the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Keene, Calif. The property is recognized worldwide for its historic link to civil rights icon Cesar Chavez and the farm worker movement. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
KEENE, Calif. (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Monday designated the home of Latino labor leader Cesar Chavez as a national monument, calling Chavez a hero who brought hope to millions of poor, disenfranchised farm workers who otherwise might have remained "invisible" to much of the nation.
""Today, we celebrate Cesar Chavez," Obama said at a ceremony at La Paz, the California farmhouse where Chavez lived and worked for more than two decades. "Our world is a better place because Cesar Chavez decided to change it."
Chavez, who died in 1993 at age 66, is buried on the site where the monument was dedicated. His widow, Helen, still lives there.
The 187-acre site, known as Nuestra Senora Reina de la Paz (Our Lady Queen of Peace), or simply La Paz, was the union's planning and coordination center starting in 1971. Chavez and many organizers lived, trained and strategized there.
Obama's action designates 105 acres at the site near Bakersfield, Calif., as a national monument, the fourth monument he has designated under the Antiquities Act.
The action could shore up support from some Hispanic and progressive voters for Obama, whose 2008 "yes we can" slogan borrowed from Chavez's motto, "Si, se puede."
When the Arizona-born Chavez began working as an organizer after World War II, "no one seemed to care about the invisible farm workers who picked the nation's food," Obama said. "Cesar cared. And in his own peaceful, eloquent way he made other people care, too. Where there had once been despair, Cesar gave workers a reason to hope."
As head of the United Farm Workers of America, Chavez staged a massive grape boycott and countless field strikes, and forced growers to sign contracts providing better pay and working conditions to the predominantly Latino farmworkers. He was credited with inspiring millions of other Latinos in their fight for more educational opportunities, better housing and more political power.
Obama seemed to tie Chavez to his own re-election campaign, saying: "Even though we have a difficult road ahead, I know we can keep moving forward together. " Obama's 2012 campaign motto is "Forward."
Helen Chavez and son Paul Chavez were among those attending the ceremony. Dolores Huerta, co-founder with Chavez of the UFW, and current union president Arturo S. Rodriguez also were present, as were Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and other officials.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Daly in Washington contributed to this report.
Associated Pressblago mumia abu jamal mumia abu jamal pearl harbor blagojevich sentence mythbusters cannonball uss arizona
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.