Paul F. Chavez statement on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC
Franklin Garcia
On August 25, 2011, we remember the connection between two great Americans, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez (see flyer). Below is statement released today by Paul F. Chavez, son of Cesar Chavez and President of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
Franklin Garcia, President
DC Latino Caucus
Cesar Chavez: Dr. King “showed us the way.”
Cesar Chavez credited Dr. King with inspiring some of the most crucial tenets and strategies of the farm worker movement, including the uncompromising commitment to nonviolence and the first time in U.S. history that boycotts were applied to major labor-management struggles. Just a month before his death, Dr. King sent a telegram to my father, who was fasting for 25 days in Delano, California to rededicate his movement to nonviolence. Dr. King said,
"As brothers in the fight for equality, I extend the hand of fellowship and good will and wish continuing success to you and your members...You and your valiant fellow workers have demonstrated your commitment to righting grievous wrongs forced upon exploited people. We are together with you in spirit and in determination that our dreams for a better tomorrow will be realized.”
Cesar Chavez once wrote that Dr. King “showed us the way.” This monument on the National Mall doesn’t just honor a great civil rights leader. It helps tell the story of America for all Americans.
Paul F. Chavez, President
Cesar Chavez Foundation
National Chavez Center
Keene, California