CESAR CHAVEZ HOME BECOMES NATIONAL MONUMENT

CESAR CHAVEZ HOME BECOMES NATIONAL MONUMENT

Kenne, California (JFK+50) President Barack Obama has designated the home of labor activist Cesar Chavez* here in Kenne, near Bakersfield, a national monument.

The President said:

“Today we celebrate Cesar Chavez.  Our world is a better place because (he) decided to change it.”

Mr. Obama’s own campaign slogan in 2008 was taken from Chavez’s motto: “Si, Se Duede!”

The Chavez home was the center of the United Farm Workers activities.

National Chavez Center, Keene, California, Photo by Bobak Ha’Eri, 2009

 In 1966, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, as a member of the Committee on Labor & Public Welfare, supported California grape pickers who were out on strike.

*Caesar Chavez was born in Yuma, Arizona on March 31, 1927.  His family moved to California to become migrant farm workers during the Depression.

Chavez served in the Navy in WWII & became an organizer in the Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights group, in 1952.  Six years later he became National Director.

In 1962, Chavez co-founded the NATIONAL FARM WORKERS ASSOCIATION with Dolores Huerta.