Chavez Park

La Placa en el Parque:
A Dedication to Cesar E. Chavez
Ramon Del Castillo, Ph.D.

A historical moment was celebrated on August 13th.   La Placa en el Parque:  A Dedication to Cesar E. Chavez Park.  The park is located on 41st and Tennyson.

Cesar E. Chavez was born on his family’s farm in Yuma, Arizona on March 31, 1927.  In 1938, the Chavez family left the family farm and moved to California.  After serving his country in the United States Navy for two years from 1944-46 Cesar was married to Fabela who bore him 8 children.  He spent the remainder of his life in the Delano area as a farmworker and dedicated union organizer.

In 1962, Cesar was a founding member of the United Farm Workers Association.    Historically, farmworkers had been abandoned by law, unable to legally establish a union in order to collectively bargain with agribusiness giants.  Chavez assisted in setting precedent for farmworkers and their right to form a union that would represent their interests.  Chavez’ left the community a legacy of struggle based on humanistic principles.  At the core of his philosophy were values for the intrinsic dignity of all human beings and a belief that non- violence was an honorable path in working towards social change.

He followed the paths of Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King in using nonviolence as a tool for achieving social justice.  Violence was seen as an extension of hatred that would eventually turn inward and eat away at one’s moral fiber.  Chavez knew that hate cast a dark shadow within those who held hate for others.   It was through spiritual cleansing and social struggle that the soul became enlightened, allowing a path of truth to be discovered.

At the base of the farm worker struggle was economic justice.  Economic justice implies that people have an obligation to be active and productive participants in the life of a society and that society has a duty to enable its’ constituents methods of participation in social life.  Chavez struggled with campesinos to achieve this.

The farmworker guru knew that the almighty dollar drove systems.  His community organizing tactics such as boycotts were meant to stop agribusiness leaders in their tracks, forcing them to the bargaining table so that they could begin to realize that those who suffer are just as human as those who cause suffering.  He destroyed the myth that big institutions could not be defeated.  

Chavez confronted and conquered his trepidations.  The farmwoker organizer knew that
fear was a great precursor for human behavior and when it festers in the soul it can stop people dead in their tracks.  Chavez’ spirituality gave him strength during turbulent times and an ability to conquer his fears.  Faith and a willingness to use his faith in social struggle were critical elements in his philosophy of social change.  As a Catholic, whose name has become synonymous with Catholic Social Thought, Chavez displayed his religious icons with pride and dignity.  He invited many other religious denominations to join him in struggle.  

He believed that the greatest gift that one person could bestow upon another is sacrifice; that is, giving up of one’s self-interest for the betterment of others.  His fasts were symbols of that ultimate sacrifice.  Spiritual in nature, they were used to cleanse the spirit preparing it for further internal battles.  

Cesar Chavez was a master as building solidarity with oppressed groups.  Solidarity was one of the goals of the farmworker movement.  Defined in the encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (The Social Concerns of the Church) as “a pursuit of the welfare of all …a firm and persevering determination to commit to the common good...to the good of all and of each individual, because we are really responsible for all,” Chavez knew that the building of relationships with the oppressed was a key in building communion with them.  He had walked down the path of poverty and knew the long-term ramifications of poverty on the human spirit.

Chavez was cognizant of false prophets, those who unexpectedly appear ready to assist, but whose motivations are egocentric.  He taught us to engage in struggle for the right reasons, to free the oppressor as well as the oppressed.  Anything less than true generosity would result in personal and collective defeat.    

In the final analysis, Cesar Estrada Chavez was an American hero.  We should be thankful that he spent time with us on this earth and celebrate the many gifts he bestowed upon us.

Ramon Del Castillo, Ph.D.
Independent Journalist
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