(Sacramento, CA.) – Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia introduced House Resolution 11 (HR 11) which received overwhelming support by the California State Assembly Thursday morning.
HR 11 recognizes March 31 as the anniversary of the birth of César Chávez, and calls upon all Californians to recognize the hard work and to learn from César Chávez’s life and mission of nonviolence, social justice, and selfless service to others.
“Cesar Chavez personally touched so many of the lives and residents of the Coachella and Imperial Valley. He left behind a vigorous and lasting legacy in the Coachella Valley, most encompassed in the state’s first Cesar Chavez Elementary School opening up in 1992 in my hometown of Coachella,” stated Assemblymember Garcia.
“We need to think beyond ourselves and our own aspirations and to think of our communities and our constituent’s needs. To be true representatives, we need to be selfless and engaged with our California communities. We need to listen more than mandate, to abstain more than indulge, and to sacrifice more than serve ourselves. It is a responsibility that we owe to the constituents that voted us in and it is a responsibility that we owe to our Californian heroes like Cesar Chavez,” said Garcia.
Background
On March 31, 1927, César Estrada Chávez was born in the North Gila River Valley in Arizona on a small family farm his grandfather homesteaded. As a farmworker, César Chávez experienced firsthand the injustice of working long hours with little pay. Under those conditions, Mr. Chávez began a long career in which he worked to improve the working and living conditions for farmworkers preaching nonviolence and fasting to call attention to the immigrant workers' cause.
Through countless strikes, boycotts, marches, and fasts that produced many victories and some defeats, César Chávez, who even considered vegetarianism an integral part of living nonviolently, never stopped his peaceful battles on behalf of the farmworkers with whom he shared his life. César Chávez dedication to his work earned him the respect of some of our greatest political and civil rights leaders, including Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesse Jackson.
César Chávez's motto in life, "Si Se Puede!" or "Yes We Can!" has served as an inspiration not only for Latinos, but for working Americans of all walks of life. In 2000, the Legislature enacted SB 984 (Chapter 213, Statutes of 2000) to create an annual state holiday on César Chávez's birthday, March 31; and, as provided in the bill, the State Board of Education adopted a model curriculum on the life and work of César Chávez which includes topics on pesticides, immigration, and agriculture's role in the economy.
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Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) serves as the as the chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy. He represents the 56th district, which comprises the cities and communities of Blythe, Brawley, Bermuda Dunes, Calexico, Calipatria, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial, Indio, Mecca, Oasis, North Shore, Salton Sea, Thermal, Thousand Palms, and Westmorland.
