Happy Cesar Chavez Day.
Observed on March 31 every year, especially in #California.
Also a U.S. federal commemorative holiday, proclaimed by President Obama in 2014. The holiday celebrates the birth and legacy of the #CivilRights and #Labor movement activist. #CesarChavez #Peace #Vegan #SíSePuede
"History will judge societies, govts & insts: by how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor & the helpless."
#CesarChavez
CS King: “César Chávez isn't an accident; he's a genius of his ppl, & their farm WKRs union -hero union. When you've succeeded in making your lives more secure & richer -whole nation will benefit. That's why your struggle has deeper dimensions than a strike for wages. You're demanding a place in the halls of man -no lowly ppl -only ppl who're forced down.”
#Unions
"History will judge societies and governments - and the institutions - not by how big they are or how well they serve the rich and the powerful, but by how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor and the helpless." - #CesarChavez
Today in Labor History March 31, 1927: Birth of Cesar Chavez. In 1965, Chavez led farm workers in California on their first grape boycott. The nationwide protest lasted five years and ended with the first union contract for U.S. farm workers outside of Hawaii. In 1966, Chavez’s organization officially became the United Farm Workers. Chavez was inspired by the nonviolent civil disobedience of Gandhi. In addition to strikes, boycotts and pickets, he was famous for going on hunger strikes. Later he became infatuated with the religious cult, Synanon. He used Synanon’s “game” to punish union members and enforce conformity. Chavez also supported the brutal Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos. This alienated Filipino members of the union, as well as many of the religious organizations that had supported the UFW.
Happy Birthday #CesarChavez! Together we can continue his life’s work of organizing farm workers. Make your donation today. https://ufw.org/chavezmarch2025 or https://paypal.com/paypalme/ufwdonate #WeFeedYou
“...Is it so much to ask that the poorest people of the land have a measure of justice?” - #CesarChavez
"... ¿Es mucho pedir que las personas más pobres de la tierra tengan un poco de justicia?" - César Chavez
"Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore." -#CesarChavez #WeFeedYou
Today is Cesar Chavez Day. Take a moment to look up the good he did.
"When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.” #CesarChavez
We are sons and daughters of the farm workers’ revolution, a revolution of the poor seeking bread and justice.” #CesarChavez
"Somos hijos e hijas de la revolución de los campesinos, una revolución de los pobres que buscan pan y justicia."
- César Chavez
Society is made up of groups. As long as the smaller groups do not have the same rights & protection as others...it is not going to work. Somehow the guys in power have to be reached by counterpower or through a change in the hearts & minds or change will not come. #CesarChavez
"There is enough love and good will in our movement to give energy to our struggle and still have plenty left over to break down and change the climate of hate and fear around us.” - #CesarChavez
Maribel, a blueberry worker says, "This March 31st is a special day. It's the birthday of #CesarChavez. There will be a march in Delano that I'll join to continue honoring our great leader, César Chávez. He fought hard to end so many injustices against us farmworkers." #WeFeedYou
Guillermina's harvested CAs grapes, blueberries, citrus & pistachios for 20+ yrs: I invite you to march with us on March 31st on #CesarChavez Day. By showing we're united, we are a force, that will make a difference. As César Chávez said: Sí Se Puede! #WithTheseHands #WeFeedYou
Celia is a Central Valley sweet potato worker. She shares: I'm going to participate in the March 31 #CesarChavez immigration march in Delano, CA. I'm a American citizen, but I too once worried if we were going to return home with our children. These raids must stop. #WeFeedYou
March 17, 1966 - Cesar Chavez and the National Farm Workers Association left Delano for Sacramento, the capital of California, a 340-mile march which would take three weeks. They were calling public attention to the plight of farm workers and for their struggle for the right to organize a union.
#NFWA #CesarChavez
Today in Labor History March 17, 1966: 100 striking Mexican American and Filipino farmworkers marched from Delano, California to Sacramento to pressure the growers and the state government to answer their demands for better working conditions and higher wages, which were, at the time, below the federal minimum wage. By the time the marchers arrived, on Easter Sunday, April 11, the crowd had grown to 10,000 protesters and their supporters. A few months later, the two unions that represented them, the National Farm Workers Association, led by César Chávez, and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, joined to form the United Farm Workers. The strike was launched on September 8, 1965, by Filipino grape pickers. Mexicans were initially hired as scabs. So, Filipino strike leader Larry Itliong approached Cesar Chavez to get the support of the National Farm Workers Association, and on September 16, 1965, the Mexican farm workers joined the strike. During the strike, the growers and their vigilantes would physically assault the workers and drive their cars and trucks into the picket lines. They also sprayed strikers with pesticides. The strikers persevered nonviolently. They went to the Oakland docks and convinced the longshore workers to support them by refusing to load grapes. This resulted in the spoilage of 1,000 ten-ton cases of grapes. The success of this tactic led to the decision to launch a national grape boycott, which would ultimately help them win the struggle against the growers.
Today in Labor History September 1, 1880: The utopian communistic Oneida Community ended after 32 years. The Community was founded by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers in 1848 near Oneida, New York. They believed that Jesus had already returned in AD 70, allowing them to bring about Jesus's millennial kingdom themselves. The Community practiced communalism (holding all property and possessions in common). They also practiced complex marriage, where 3 or more people could enter into the same marriage, and male sexual continence, where the male’s goal was to not ejaculate during sex. They were also one of the first groups in the U.S. to practice mutual criticism, to root out bad characteristics in people, something adopted by many later cults, and even by Cesar Chavez and the UFW under his leadership.
The Oneida Community has been portrayed in numerous works of fiction such as “Silken Strands,” by Rebecca May Hope (2019). “Assassination Vacation,” by Sarah Vowell (2005) and “Pagan House,” by David Flusfeder (2007).
#workingclass #LaborHistory #socialism #oneida #cesarchavez #cult #communalism #books #author #writer #fiction #novel @bookstadon
Today in Labor History August 23, 1970: The Salad Bowl strike began. Led by Cesar Chavez and the UFW, it was the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history. The strike was not only a battle between farm workers and the large, corporate growers. In late September 1970, the UFW launched a consumer boycott of all lettuce which had not been picked by members of the United Farm Workers. Violence was widespread. In November, someone bombed a UFW regional office. In December, federal marshals arrested and jailed Chavez. Two days later, former Olympic gold medal decathlete Rafer Johnson and Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert Kennedy, visited him in jail. However, an anti-union mob attacked Kennedy and Johnson on the steps of the jail. Only the intervention of Salinas city cops and the Brown Berets prevent injury to the visitors and full-scale riot.
The turf war between the Teamsters and the UFW continued after the strike and grew increasingly violent. A UFW picketer was shot on August 3. And on August 9, five firebombs were thrown at UFW picket lines. Another two UFW members were shot on August 11, and a UFW picketer was shot to death on August 16, 1973. Chávez ultimately entered into talks with the Teamsters. On September 27, 1973, the Teamsters agreed to leave jurisdiction over farm field workers to the UFW.
#CesarChavez: "I wouldn't eat my dog, you know. Cows and dogs are about the same." #Veganism
