President Obama designates the home of César Chávez as a national monument

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

President Obama on Monday designated the home of Latino labor leader César Chávez as a national monument, calling Chávez a hero who brought hope to millions of poor, disenfranchised farmworkers who otherwise might have remained "invisible" to much of the nation. César Chávez home a national monument:

"Today, we celebrate César Chávez," Obama said at a ceremony at La Paz, the California farmhouse where Chávez lived and worked for more than two decades. "Our world is a better place because César Chávez decided to change it."

When the Arizona-born Chávez began working as an organizer after World War II, "no one seemed to care about the invisible farmworkers who picked the nation's food," Obama said. "Cesar cared. And in his own peaceful, eloquent way he made other people care, too. Where there had once been despair, César gave workers a reason to hope."

Helen Chávez and son Paul Chávez were among those attending the ceremony. Dolores Huerta, co-founder with César Chavez of the UFW, and current union president Arturo S. Rodriguez also were present.

(Photo credit: ERIC PAUL ZAMORA / FRESNO BEE)

Chávez, who died in 1993 at age 66, is buried on the site where the monument was dedicated. His widow, Helen, still lives there.

The 187-acre site, known as Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz (Our Lady Queen of Peace), or simply La Paz, was the union's planning and coordination center starting in 1971. Chávez and many organizers lived, trained and strategized there.

Obama's action designates 105 acres at the site near Bakersfield, Calif., as a national monument, the fourth monument he has designated under the Antiquities Act.

 "Si, se puede."