Cesar Chavez Day, 2014

Vol. 79

Thursday,

No. 64

April 3, 2014

Part II

The President

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Proclamation 9092--Cesar Chavez Day, 2014

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 9092 of March 28, 2014

Cesar Chavez Day, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On Cesar Chavez Day, we celebrate one of America's
greatest champions for social justice. Raised into the
life of a migrant farm worker, he toiled alongside men,
women, and children who performed daily, backbreaking
labor for meager pay and in deplorable conditions. They
were exposed to dangerous pesticides and denied the
most basic protections, including minimum wages, health
care, and access to drinking water. Cesar Chavez
devoted his life to correcting these injustices, to
reminding us that every job has dignity, every life has
value, and everyone--no matter who you are, what you
look like, or where you come from--should have the
chance to get ahead.

After returning from naval service during World War II,
Cesar Chavez fought for freedom in American
agricultural fields. Alongside Dolores Huerta, he
founded the United Farm Workers, and through decades of
tireless organizing, even in the face of intractable
opposition, he grew a movement to advance ``La Causa''
across the country. In 1966, he led a march that began
in Delano, California, with a handful of activists and
ended in Sacramento with a crowd 10,000 strong. A grape
boycott eventually drew 17 million supporters
nationwide, forcing growers to accept some of the first
farm worker contracts in history. A generation of
organizers rose to carry that legacy forward.

The values Cesar Chavez lived by guide us still. As we
push to fix a broken immigration system, protect the
right to unionize, advance social justice for young men
of color, and build ladders of opportunity for every
American to climb, we recall his resilience through
setbacks, his refusal to scale back his dreams. When we
organize against income inequality and fight to raise
the minimum wage--because no one who works full time
should have to live in poverty--we draw strength from
his vision and example.

Throughout his lifelong struggle, Cesar Chavez never
forgot who he was fighting for. ``What [the growers]
don't know,'' he said, ``is that it's not bananas or
grapes or lettuce. It's people.'' Today, let us honor
Cesar Chavez and those who marched with him by meeting
our obligations to one another. I encourage Americans
to make this a national day of service and education by
speaking out, organizing, and participating in service
projects to improve lives in their communities. Let us
remember that when we lift each other up, when we speak
with one voice, we have the power to build a better
world.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2014, as
Cesar Chavez Day. I call upon all Americans to observe
this day with appropriate service, community, and
education programs to honor Cesar Chavez's enduring
legacy.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
eighth.