A More Fitting Way to Honor Cesar Chavez

The editorial cartoon on the Valley Commentary page of June 4 presented a patch of grass as the Chavez Memorial to ridicule those trying to stop the renaming of Kalisher Street to Cesar Chavez, as proposed by San Fernando City Councilwoman Rosa Chacon. Actually, a patch of growing grass as a monument is more in keeping with the wishes of the Cesar Chavez I knew.

Cesar could have lived his last days in the comfort of a Washington townhouse instead of dying in an isolated farmhouse if he had been willing to sing the theme songs of the Washington welfare system--a system he felt turned honest, hard-working men and women into chattels of the state.

The first time I saw Cesar was in 1979 at a meeting held in a small, rural schoolhouse. The meeting had to be in the early morning because there was no air conditioning, and by 10 a.m. the temperature would rise to furnace-like heat. I had to squint against the sun streaming through the uncovered windows and the whitewashed 2-by-4-and-plywood walls.

Everyone had stopped what they were doing to listen to Cesar as he “debated” with a team of “suits” from Washington D.C. They were offering him a high-level civil service position. In about half an hour, they left, chagrined. He let them and everyone else know that he hated government handouts even more than exploiting growers. “At least they [the growers] knew what it meant to work.”

I would suggest that those who really want to honor Cesar Chavez plant small fruit and vegetable gardens and use the harvest to feed the needy.

RICHARD JEPPERSON

Glendale