Remembering Cesar Chavez

Floor Speech

REMEMBERING CESAR CHAVEZ -- (Senate - March 29, 2007)

Mr. DURBIN. A great man once said, ``We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community ..... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.''

Those are the words of Cesar Chavez.

His friend, Robert Kennedy, once called Cesar Chavez ``one of the heroic figures of our time.''

He was a man of uncommon moral courage, a disciple of nonviolence who believed deeply in the promise of American democracy. He sacrificed much to extend that promise to some of the poorest people in America: farm workers.

``Yes, we can.'' That was Cesar Chavez's message to people who had felt powerless against the crushing hand of fate. Yes, we can make a better life for ourselves and our children. Yes, we can overcome injustice, without resorting to violence.

His words and his work inspired not only the Latino farmworkers with whom he lived but all Americans.

This coming Saturday, March 31, would have been Cesar Chavez's 80th birthday. In California, where his birthday is a legal holiday, and in homes and communities throughout our Nation, Americans will pause over the next few days to remember and celebrate the life and legacy of this great man.

Cesar Chavez was the founder of the United Farm Workers Union, a labor and civil rights leader. He established the first collective bargaining agreement between farmworkers and growers in the United States. That agreement allowed farmworkers to negotiate for safer and better working conditions--for such simple, basic human needs such as the right to a drink of clean water after hours working in a hot field.

In 1993, at the age of 66, Cesar Chavez died--his great heart weakened by the many fasts he had conducted to call attention to the plight of farmworkers. But his legacy lives on.

In a time when our Nation is at war and the income and equality gaps are again widening in America, we would do well to remember the lessons of peace and social justice from the life of Cesar Chavez.

There is no better way to promote his legacy than to continue these teachings in our communities and especially among our young people.

In my State of Illinois, schools set aside 1 day in the month of March as ``Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning.'' It is an idea that was introduced by our Lieutenant Governor, Pat Quinn, in 2004. Students in kindergarten through high school learn about Cesar Chavez's life and beliefs in the classroom, and they also learn about his ethic of service and social responsibility by participating in community service projects.

Here in Congress, as we debate the war, the Federal budget, and other matters that affect the lives of so many people so profoundly, perhaps we should have our own Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning.

We would do well to remember his challenge: ``We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community ..... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.''

Can we make America better, more just--a more perfect union? In the words of Cesar Chavez, ``Yes, we can.'' It is not easy, but it can be done. And it is up to each of us to try.

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