The National Park Service is recommending that Congress create a new historic park to honor farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, one that would be made up of four sites in California and a former Phoenix church hall where the now-famous rallying cry “Si se puede” was popularized.
The recommendation Thursday comes after years of study on sites that are significant to the life of Chavez and the U.S. farm labor movement. Congress authorized the study in 2008, and the Park Service narrowed a list of about 100 sites to five to become a multi-state national historic park.
Marc Grossman, Chavez’s longtime spokesman, speech writer and personal aide, said including sites in Arizona and California is fitting because it recognizes the length and breadth of Chavez’s labors.
As head of the United Farm Workers, the Arizona-born Chavez staged a massive grape boycott and countless field strikes, and forced growers to sign contracts providing better pay and working conditions to the predominantly Latino farmworkers.
For the full story: latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/10/26/national-parks-recommends-historic-park-to-honor-farm-labor-leader/
Photo: freedomarchives.org
