Spring Break
Lecture series honors Cesar Chavez, diversity
Elyssa Brogdon
Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: News
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UMKC Division of Diversity, Access and Equity continued its social justice and diversity lecture series with the first annual Cesar Chavez lecture.
Students, faculty and staff joined members from the community to listen to keynote speaker Julia Chavez Rodriguez, granddaughter of Cesar Chavez, and program director of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation.
Chavez was a civil and labor rights activist. In 1962, he began fighting for farm workers, but his message soon became a widespread ideal for Latinos, according to Rodriguez.
"Here are some things for you to think about," said Chancellor Guy Bailey before Rodriguez' introduction. "Between now and 2040, the white population in the Kansas City Metropolitan area is projected to grow about 4 percent … the African American population is projected to grow by about 60 percent, the Latino population by about 800 percent."
Bailey said this change will be a good one, and he wants UMKC to be at the forefront of the movement. These lectures are the beginning of that, he said.
Rodriguez began her lecture with a slide show of her grandfather, depicting him from childhood to the years he spent fighting for labor rights. She explained her grandfather was a short, soft-spoken man who never viewed himself as a hero.
"My grandfather would always say, 'I'm not a leader, I'm a union organizer.' Organizers have to work hard and be committed," Rodriguez said. "He felt uncomfortable because he knew there were too many people who had made significant contributions and really critical sacrifices for the farm workers' movement. There were many Cesar Chavezes among him, and he couldn't be seen as the only one."
Chavez used tactics similar to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to evoke change, according to Rodriguez. While King and Chavez never met face to face, they were in contact with one another. One photo in the slideshow showed a telegram to Chavez from King.
"The plight of your people and ours is so great that we all desperately need the inspiring example and effective leadership you have given," King wrote in his telegram.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott inspired Chavez to hold a boycott of grapes and other products to move the fight from the fields to across the United States, according to Rodriguez.
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