A pril 2. 2014
Jìortlanb (Observer
Page 9
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Honoring Cesar Chavez and the Dignity of Work
We’re united in the
fight for living
wages •
M arc H. M orial
While it is commonly
thought that the Civil
Rights movement of
the 1960s was by, of,
and exclusively for the
benefit o f African Americans, the life
and legacy of Cesar Chavez remind us
of how much it touched the lives o f our
Hispanic brothers and sisters and op­
pressed people everywhere.
A Mexican-American who was bom
March 31, 1927 on a farm near Yuma,
A nz., Chavez and his family moved to
California in 1938 to eke out a living like
thousands o f other overworked and un­
derpaid migrant farm workers in his
community.
But rather than tolerate the daily
injustices heaped upon them, w hich
also included forced child labor, sexual
by
harassm ent o f women w orkers and
the use o f pesticides harm ful to both
w orkers and consum ers, Chavez de­
voted his life to organizing and im prov­
ing the lives o f m igrant w orkers.
In 1962, he and D elores H uerta c o ­
founded the U nited Farm W orkers
Union. Inspired by the non-violent ex­
am ples o f M ahatm a Gandhi and Dr.
M artin L uther King, Jr., Chavez em ­
braced the philosophy of non-violent
protest and em ployed such tactics as
m arches, boycotts and hunger strikes
to garner m ainstream support for the
rights o f m igrant workers.
In 1968, he fasted for 25 days for
better wages and working conditions
in the fields o f C alifornia’s San Joaquin
Valley. Upon ending that strike by
b reak in g b read w ith Sen. R obert
K ennedy, Chavez addressed his sup­
porters, saying, “We are gathered here
today, not so much to observe the end
o f the Fast, but because we are a
fam ily bound together in a com m on
struggle for justice. We are a Union
fam ily celebrating our unity and the
non-violent nature o f our m ovem ent.”
C havez’s work and sacrifice inspired
m illions of people around the world,
including Dr. King and N ational Urban
League President W hitney M. Young
Jr.
In 1969, towards the end of a five-
year strike and boycott for the rights of
Mexican and Filipino grape workers,
Young met with Chavez and his support­
ers in Delano, Calif. Young was moved
to write a To Be Equal column in which
he said, “I was inspired by their spirit and
their faith in the face of the odds against
them. ’ He added, “Labor, by organizing
the poor and the friendless, can help end
poverty by protecting low-wage work­
ers, and it can give the lie to those who
happily proclaim the selfishness and
prejudice of some unions.”
Cesar Chavez died on April 23, 1993.
Following Whitney Young’s example,
subsequent National Urban League lead­
ers, me included, have continued to work
in solidarity with the goals of the United
Farm W orkers and num erous other
Latino civil rights organizations.
I spoke at the National Council o f La
Raza conference last summ er and at­
tended part of the League o f United
Latin American Citizens conference in
February. We are all united in many of
our struggles, especially the fight to end
income inequality and poverty.
As an iconic labor leader and anti-
poverty activist, C esar C havez would
have likely also been an enthusiastic
su p p o rte r o f the N a tio n a l U rb an
L eague’s current petition to raise the
minimum wage and all o f our w ork for
jobs with living wages and fair ben­
efits.
President O bam a has proclaim ed
Chavez’s birthday, March 31, as Cesar
Chavez Day “to remember a man who
made justice his life calling.” We believe
that the best way to honor Chavez’s
legacy is through service and a renewed
commitment to end income inequality
and poverty. Congress can do its part by
raising the minimum wage now.
M arc H. M orial is president and
chief executive officer o f the National
Urban League.
We Can’t G
Our silence will not
protect us
by S andy
S orensen
I am not writing
this in the immediate
aftermath o f another
horrific mass shoot­
ing. I am not m ark­
ing the anniversary
of a prominent gun violence tragedy,
although given the estimated 30,000
deaths from gun violence annually; it is
likely the anniversary of a gun tragedy in
some American community somewhere.
And although legislation to strengthen
background checks on gun purchases is
still before Congress, most political ob­
servers give it little chance o f moving in
a midterm congressional election year.
But perhaps it is just such a time as this
when we need to redouble our efforts to
prevent gun violence from continuing to
take its tragic toll in our nation.
Truly our silence will not protect us.
The fact is that gun violence is pre­
ventable. We have the means to reduce
gun violence, and we have the knowl­
edge to im plem ent p rev en tio n a p ­
proaches. We have studies that give us
insight into the factors contributing to
gun violence and insight into effective
strategies for preventing it.
We certainly know the cost o f failing nom ination o f Dr. Vivek H allegere public policy advocacy, participation in
topreventfurthergunviolence,although Murthy for Surgeon General, because community prevention programs and edu-
we may not ultimately be able to fully he has identified gun violence as a public cation.
measure the cost of trauma, despair, health crisis.
Faiths United rests on a core belief
hopelessness and grief that is left in its
Faiths United Against Gun Violence,
that is reflected across faith traditions,
w a^ e -
a diverse, interfaith coalition of faith- _________
vaiuIVFl
the belief that violence and death cannot
It is striking and sobering that 14 based groups united by the call to con- and will not have the final word. T hatïs
months after the mass shooting at Sandy front our nation’s gun violence epidemic, reason enough to continue our efforts to
Hook Elementary School, charities that just concluded its Gun Violence Preven- prevent further gun violence.
9
t j .
J A
• 7 z7
z* ,
Faiths United Against Gun Violence, a diverse,
interfaith coalition o f faith-based groups united
by the call to confront our nation ’s gun violence
epidemic, just concluded its Gun Violence
Prevention Sabbath observance.
1
helped to provide funds for mental health
care in the Newtown community have
nearly exhausted those funds, and it is
unclear how long into the future the need
for such services will remain.
What we seem not to have is the
political will to take action. An over­
whelming majority of the American pub­
lic, including a majority of gun owners,
supports strengthening the background
check system on gun purchases in re­
sponse to gun violence, but such legisla­
tion remains mired in the fear of alienat­
ing special interests in an election year.
These same special interests have
even gone on the offensive to derail the
tion Sabbath observance. Thousands of
It is time to reclaim our streets, schools,
and workplaces from the threat of gun
violence, and it is time to reclaim the
power of our vote from narrow special
interests that seek to block even modest,
common-sense measures to prevent gun
violence.
Our culture has a heavy investment in
death; isn’t it time we invested in hope
and change?
people of faith around the country en-
gaged in prayer and action to address
gun violence in our communities through
Sandy Sorensen is director o f the
Justice and Witness Ministries fo r the
United Church o f Christ.
t
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