Amidst the barrage of Arizona legislation that has targeted our Mexican-American and Latino youth, which includes a law that bans teaching ethnic studies in the classroom and a bill that would deny birthright citizenship to children of U.S. migrants, there is hope.
There is a bill before the State Senate that, if passed, would recognize the late César E. Chávez.
As an activist and organizer, Chávez fought for higher wages and better working conditions for thousands of Mexican-American farm workers.
Senate Bill 1108, sponsored by Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, pushes to amend the Arizona calendar of Holidays Enumerated to observe the fourth Monday of March as César E. Chávez Day.
The addition of this holiday would not only recognize a selfless man that represented people in both civil rights and workers’ rights movements, but also would recognize the oppression that has existed, and still exists, among Mexican-Americans.
Howard Zinn, a U.S. historian, once commented on the history of oppression and the effect it has today. "The memory of oppressed people is one thing that cannot be taken away, and for such people, with such memories, revolt is always an inch below the surface,” he said.
What was oppression to Chávez?
Oppression was unfair wages and poor working conditions in the fields. This included federal programs like the Bracero Program of 1942-1964. That program recruited undocumented workers as temporary workers.
This work then exploited the undocumented workers with minimal pay then fired and replaced them once they acknowledged the poor pay and working conditions.
This oppression included the worker sanctions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which prohibited the hiring of undocumented workers. Chávez and the United Farm Workers, an organization he co-founded with Dolores Huerta, fought against these sanctions that are still strongly enforced.
Huerta was an advocate for provisions in the Immigration Reform Act that would provide amnesty to one million migrants who entered the U.S. before 1982 and that supported a pathway to residency for agricultural workers.
How does this compare to Arizona today?
Arizona denies all working rights to undocumented people and establishes fear in them with legislation like SB 1070. This law penalizes not only those who are undocumented, but also those people who assist undocumented migrants.
This legislative strategy interrupts survival tactics and oppresses people by challenging them to survive and hoping they go elsewhere, anywhere but the U.S.
If Chávez were alive today, how would he react to the oppression that still exists in Arizona?
He would see the ban on teaching Mexican-American studies as oppression.
Last week, Huerta, who stood alongside Chávez during the infamous grape boycotts, encouraged students to violate the ethnic studies ban and announced her willingness to be arrested for the cause.
"OK, we’re just going to teach ethnic studies and violate the law, get people in jail," Huerta said to The Tucson Citizen.
Recognizing the efforts of Chávez in Arizona will not only be a conscious reminder of the struggles people have endured, but also will acknowledge the current oppression that Chávez would fight for if he were alive today.
If this holiday were to pass through the Arizona Legislature, it would be a yearly historical lesson and reminder that the oppressed will overcome their adversity in the end.
Contact Justine at jrgarci8@asu.edu
