Dolores Huerta, long time workers' activist and colleague of César Chávez, admires the mosaic of Chávez in the new memorial arch. Designed by acclaimed muralist Judith F. Baca, the monument is a 22-foot tall arch topped with a glass eagle, the United Farm Workers' emblem, with decorative murals depicting people, concepts, symbols and historical events central to Chávez's life and the movement he led.
Last September, the campus and community unveiled and dedicated a memorial arch to César E. Chávez along the Paseo de César E. Chávez. The arch is an eloquent testament to Chávez's struggles and achievements and an inspiration to others to follow a life of service.
"¡Viva la causa!" "Sí, se puede!" chanted the crowd -- among them San José State students, faculty, staff, members of the community and farm workers. They hadn't gathered to boycott, picket or strike. They were here to honor the legacy of César Estrada Chávez, one of America's greatest civil rights leaders who led the charge to change the lives of millions of people for the better.
Chávez's story began near Yuma, Arizona, where he was born in 1927 to a family of farm workers. When he was 10, the Depression, coupled with years of drought, forced his family off their farm. Along with thousands of other farm workers, they packed up and headed for California.
Chávez and his siblings worked in the fields from Brawley to Oxnard, King City to Salinas, and Delano to Mendota. Sleeping by the side of the road, moving from farm to farm and from harvest to harvest was not easy. Getting an education was not easy either. Chávez attended 38 different schools until he dropped out after finishing eighth grade.
Despite these hard times, Chávez's mother always emphasized the importance of caring for the less fortunate -- a lesson he was to carry with him for a lifetime.
During his teenage years, Chávez was exposed to the inequity of the farm labor system but didn't know how to fight it. When he met Fred Ross, an organizer for the Community Service Organization -- a Latino civil rights group -- Chávez knew it was his calling. He rapidly developed as an organizer and shortly thereafter became president of the CSO, coordinating voter registration drives and conducting campaigns against racial and economic discrimination.
Chávez's dream, however, was to create an organization that would protect and serve farm workers. In 1962, he formed the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America.
For more than three decades Chávez fought to gain respect, fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, and humane living conditions for farm workers. In 1965, he organized a grape workers strike, protesting the lack of drinking water and sanitary facilities -- a boycott that gained national and international support. What had started as a local grape strike came to be known as La Causa, the Cause -- reminding people to take a stand against discrimination and injustice.
Chávez's efforts led to the 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act -- the only law in the nation even today that protects the farm workers' right to unionize.
Many of the farm workers for whom Chávez fought have descendants among San José State students, faculty, staff and throughout the local community. He touched many lives, giving a voice to thousands.
Seven years ago, SJSU students proposed a monument to honor Chávez, and the initiative was supported by Latino community leaders and the city of San José.
"This is a campus where social justice is not just a phrase -- it lives," said SJSU President Jon Whitmore at the unveiling ceremony of the César E. Chávez Monument: The Arch of Dignity, Equality and Justice on September 4. "What better place, then, to bring honor and attention to César Chávez, a man who made improving the lives of others his central and abiding life work?"
Says Maria Ochoa, lecturer in the Department of Social Science and women's studies program. "The arch reminds us to ask ourselves: 'How will I help someone today?'"
-Mansi Bhatia
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