Cesar Chavez

Why do we honor and remember people? We honor them and they are remembered because of the sacrifices they made to improve and help the lives in our future. They dedicated their lives to insure a better tomorrow. There is one man who not only stood up, but sacrificed and dedicated his life to help the Latino Americans stand up together for a better future. This man was Cesar Chavez, a man I believed should be honored and remembered in City Hall.

Cesar Chavez was an American Labor leader and a Civil Rights Activist. Cesar Chavez started as a farmworker who became a Latino American Civil Rights Activists. He helped agriculture workers face problems they had with the work force and also urged Latino Americans to register and vote. Cesar Chavez led many nonviolent strikes to help migrant workers. He encouraged Latino Americans to speak up and stand up for themselves. He was a hero and a symbol of hope to millions of Americans.

Cesar Chavez was a farmworker growing up who experienced poverty. He left school after 8th grade and worked in the fields full time to help his family. There he witnessed the harsh conditions that farmworkers endured. They were exploited by their employers, were often unpaid, and living in shacks in exchange for their labor. Without the workers speaking as on they had no way to improve their environment. Cesar Chavez helped the workers united and dedicated his life to change the right of agricultural workers. He inspired and organized the workers into the National Farmworkers Association (NFWA).

Cesar Chavez led many marches, strikes, and boycotts to raise awareness of the labor conditions as well united the farmworkers. Chavez along with the NFWA led a strike of California Grape pickers that lasted 5 years. The NFWA had support from great people such as Martin Luther king Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Chavez believed in his cause deeply that he was arrested and sent to jail for boycotting, yet he never gave up.

Cesar Chavez was a strong believer of nonviolence. He always believed that violence was not the answer. To show members of his union that violence wasn’t the path to go, and would only hurt the way people saw the union, he made a sacrifice and fasted. While Cesar Chavez fasted, he reminded the union members of the sacrifices they had to make to keep the community strong.

Cesar Chavez is a symbol of hope for the poor and the powerless. He is an inspiration to Latinos and was also a strong hero in the fight against racism. He showed that poor people who were victims of racism and unfair laws could come together as one and change lives. Tday there are 14 million Latino Americans in California and even more in other states, Cesar Chavez was a bigh part of making all of this possible. I believe that Cesar Chavez should be honored and remembered at City Hall for his dedication in changing the world.

Submitted August 23, 2017