APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY
________________________
CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION NO. _______________ C.M.S.
INTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER COUNCILMEMBER NOEL GALLO
ADOPT A RESOLUTION IN CELEBRATION OF CESAR ESTRADA
CHAVEZ DAY AND HONOR HIS LEGACY AS A CIVIL RIGHTS
ACTIVIST AND CO -FOUNDER OF THE UNITED FARM WORKERS
ASSOCIATION
WHEREAS, Cesar Estrada Chavez was born March 31, 1927, on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona, and was raised by migr ant farm workers who lost their homestead due to foreclosure in the 1930s; and
WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez left school after the eighth grade to labor in the fields and vineyards to help support his family and after experiencing years of discrimination and unfair working conditions; and
WHEREAS, Chavez became a grassroots organizer for the Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights group that organized Chicanos to vote and battled racial and economic discrimination, in 1952
; and
WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association and traveled around the San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys to recruit union members ; and
WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta believed in the principles of nonviolence practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and used nonviolent civil disobedience to bring attention to the plight of farm workers, and as a labor leader, led marches, called for boycotts and went on several hunger strikes and brought national awareness to the dangers of pesticides to workers' health; and
WHEREAS, Cesar E. Chavez’s efforts for equality and justice resulted in health benefits for farm workers and their families and the first union contracts requiring rest periods, clean drinking water, hand washing stations, and protective clothing against pesticide exposure; and
WHEREAS, every March 31st we celebrate Cesar E. Chavez Day and commend the legacy he leaves behind as an American civil rights activist who advocated for immigration reform, the hiring of undocumented workers, gay rights, livable wages, and equal access to healthcare ; now, therefore, be it
2 RESOLVED: That the City of Oakland recognizes and celebrates Cesar E. Chavez Day and honors the social impacts of his activism.
IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA,
PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES - FIFE, GALLO, KALB, KAPLAN, REID, TAYLOR, THAO AND
PRESIDENT FORTUNATO BAS
NOES –
ABSENT –
ABSTENTION –
ATTEST:
ASHA REED
City Clerk and Clerk of the Council of the
City of Oakland, California