The figure of the Mexican-American César Chávez, champion of latino workers in the United States, it has been highlighted again by the White House when this Wednesday President Joe Biden signed an executive order that establishes March 31, 2022 as “César Chávez Day”.
“I call on all Americans to observe this day as a day of service and learning, with appropriate educational, community, and service programs to honor the enduring legacy of Cesar Chavez,” the president said in a statement.
Precisely in the year in which he would turn 95, Chávez, who was born in Arizona in 1927 and died in 1993, has once again received recognition from the United States government, since in 2014 then-president Barack Obama proclaimed his date of birth as a federal holiday.
Some states such as Arizona, California, Colorado, and Washington observe March 31 each year as a holiday in which schools and federal offices are closed.
Chávez was noted for speaking out against abuses of farm workers and for undertaking different forms of protest, including a hunger strike, to draw attention to injustices against immigrants.
The organization United Farm Workers of America, founded by himself together with fellow activist Dolores Huerta, is part of the legacy that the White House highlights in its message.
“As our Nation celebrates Cesar Chavez’s 95th birthday, let us keep the lessons he taught in our minds and the values he lived by in our hearts: the power of workers to bargain for a better deal, the strength in the face of extraordinary adversity.” and the conviction to fight for what we believe”, indicates the proclamation.
Upon arriving at the White House in 2021, President Biden placed a bust of Chávez in the Oval Office as, as he reiterates today, it is “a constant reminder of the enduring values he embodied.”
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