Cesar Chavez Day 2009

1. Cesar Chavez Day 2009 “Once social change begins it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people that are not afraid anymore.” Materials for this presentation can be found at the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation

2. Si Se Puede,Yes We Can! Campaign 2009 “Like the other immigrant groups, the day will come when we win the economic and political rewards which are in keeping with our numbers in society. The day will come when the politicians will do the right thing for our people out of political necessity and not our of charity or idealism.”

3. Senator Robert F. Kennedy declared, Cesar Estrada Chavez, "one of the heroic figures of our time.."

4. An American hero, Cesar was a civil rights leader, a labor leader, a farm worker, a religious and spiritual figure a community servant a social entrepreneur a crusader for nonviolent social change an environmentalist and a consumer advocate.

5. At age 10, his family became migrant farm workers after losing their farm in the Great Depression. Throughout his youth and into his adulthood, Cesar migrated across the southwest laboring in the fields and vineyards, where he was exposed to the hard and injustice life of a farm worker. A second-generation American, Cesar was born on March 31, 1927, near his family's farm in Yuma, Arizona.

6. The minority with the greatest voting potential is • Native Americans • Vietnamese • Hispanics • Asian Americans

7. Obama’s Blue States

8. 2008 Presidential Election

10. "Fast for our Future,” 2008 Began in La Placita Olvera in the heart of the Los Angeles on October 15 and continued through the November 4 election.

11. The Cesar E. Chavez Foundation In 1993, his family and friends established the Foundation to educate people about the life and work of this great American civil rights leader, and to engage all, particularly youth, to carry on his values and timeless vision for a better world.

12. “As farm workers and laborers across America continue to struggle for fair treatment and fair wages, we find strength in what Cesar Chavez accomplished so many years ago. And we should honor him for what he's taught us about making America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation. That's why I support the call to make Cesar Chavez's birthday a national holiday. It's time to recognize the contributions of this American icon to the ongoing efforts to perfect our union.” —Barack Obama

13. In 1994, President Clinton posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in America., declaring, "Cesar Chavez left our world better than he found it, and his legacy inspires us still. He was for his own people a Moses figure. The farm workers who labored in the fields pinned their hopes on this remarkable man." The Cesar E. Chavez Foundation embodies his uncommon and invaluable legacy. Since his death, dozens of communities across the nation have renamed schools, parks, streets, libraries, other public facilities, awards and scholarships in his honor, as well as enacting holidays on his birthday, March 31.

14. A common man with an uncommon vision for humankind, he stood for equality, justice, and dignity for all Americans. His ecumenical principles remain relevant and inspiring today. March 31, 1927 - April 23, 1993