On Cesar (March 31st) Chavez Day, Rediscover Cesar Chavez

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/On_Cesar_Chavez_Day_Rediscover_Cesar_Chavez_7960.html

by Randy Shaw‚ Mar. 30‚ 2010



When California in 2000 became the first of eight states to declare March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day, the goal was to connect the honor with a curriculum that would educate students about Chavez. Yet ten years later, it is clear that young Californians know little about Cesar Chavez, and that those raised outside the West Coast and Southwest know even less. Millions of Americans even think Barack Obama invented the “Yes We Can” rallying cry, unaware of its roots in the UFW’s “Si Se Puede.”(a listener to a recent Talk of the Nation show on NPR told me that host Neal Conan also credited Obama with launching the slogan). One reason schools teach little about Chavez is that he led both a progressive social movement and a labor union – still controversial positions in many states and localities. Another is a reluctance to credit a Latino with greatly impacting the broader society. Last week, students at Santa Monica College asked me what I thought were the three most important facts about Chavez’s legacy. Here’s what I told them.

Chavez Demonstrated the Potential Success of National Grassroots Campaigns for Progressive Change

While discussion of Cesar Chavez understandably focuses on such personal actions as his fasts, marches, speeches, he also developed the modern blueprint for national grassroots movements. The UFW was the first nationwide campaign to actively unify students, clergy, women, and workers toward a common goal, and mounted the broadest progressive national grassroots campaign until Barack Obama’s Fall 2008 election effort over three decades later.

And unlike Obama, the UFW did not have hundreds of million of dollars. In fact, the UFW likely spent less in the entire decade leading up to the 1975 enactment of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act than the Obama presidential campaign incurred each week.

Cesar Chavez dared to accomplish what most thought impossible, demonstrating the potential of national grassroots campaigns to win against all odds. Understanding the UFW’s success should cause activists to think bigger about what’s possible.

Chavez and the UFW Reinvented Grassroots Electoral Outreach

The most widely touted book on the 1968 Presidential campaign was Joe McGuinness’ The Selling of the President. The book showed how presidential candidates now relied on advertising agencies to sell them like products, with television ads replacing door-to-door canvassing as the way to win over voters.

FULL story at link.

[Flaneur]

1. Fuck that tinpot dictator!

Oh, wait, never mind.

[leftstreet]

2. LOL

:spray:

[EFerrari]

3. That grape boycott went on so long, I STILL don't buy grapes

lol

[KG]

4. grassroots activism, the only vehicle for real change.

those that believe in the efficacy of the ballot box are kidding themselves.

[rurallib]

5. Thank You. One of my mentees (6th grade) just did a paper on Chavez

I will call her tomorrow and tell her that it is Cesar Chavez day.
One of many great leaders from the 50s, 60s and 70s that have been consigned to the memory hole.

[Nikki Stone1]

6. Thanks for this!

A great man and a great movement.

[Ex Lurker]

7. I've heard freeprs claim from time to time that Chavez was on "their" side of the immigration issue

in other words, he made a distinction between US-born Hispanics and undocumented immigrants. Can anyone clarify?

[Omaha Steve]

8. News to me

They do make a lot of stuff up on the far right. Anybody know about this?

[Omaha Steve]

9. Kick