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The military has christened its newest cargo-ammunition ship for civil rights leader and labor activist Cesar Chavez, who served in the Navy during World War II.

Last week, Congress passed a massive $662 billion defense bill that may or may not be vetoed by the president because of a couple controversial provisions about the military's role in dealing with terror suspects. But also snuggled inside that huge bill was a very small provision from Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt. The amendment would require the Secretary of the Navy to "perform a study and seek recommendations to evaluate how Naval vessels are named." Blunt's provision is in response to the decision by the Secretary of the Navy last May to name one of its ships after famed labor...

SAN ANTONIO — A judge on Monday blocked the city of San Antonio from renaming a street after the late labor activist Cesar Chavez. The temporary restraining order from State District Judge Antonia Arteaga came just days after the City Council voted along ethnic lines to approve the name change. The proposal to rename Durango Street, one of the city's main streets, has divided a city where 61 percent of residents are Hispanic. "It is very important that we protect the integrity of our history, and that includes objecting to changing street names," said Bill Oliver, who represents the San...

In a vote that split down ethnic lines, the City Council on Thursday approved changing the name of Durango Boulevard in honor of civil rights activist and labor leader César Chávez. Though they all said Chávez should be honored in some meaningful way, none of the non-Latino council members — Ivy Taylor, Reed Williams, Elisa Chan and John Clamp — voted in favor of the proposal. The council's seven Hispanic members supported the initiative. Opposition vacillated from the pragmatic to the philosophical and included arguments that changing the street name would be too great a burden on residents and businesses,...

While the idea of naming a U.S. Naval ship after labor leader Cesar Chavez has roiled some, California Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer is thrilled that the activist will be receiving the honor. Boxer called Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus Tuesday to thank him for the decision. “I applaud Secretary Mabus for continuing the Navy’s rich tradition of naming these supply ships after pioneers, explorers and visionaries by honoring César Chávez, who worked tirelessly to promote fair working conditions and equal rights for all Americans,” Boxer said in a statement. “This is a fitting tribute to Chávez, who served in...

Military: What's the U.S. Navy doing naming a ship after a leftist activist? If it wants to honor American Hispanics, there are scores of military heroes more worthy than Cesar Chavez. Apparently, even the military isn't immune to being reimaged into the Obama world view. It was announced Tuesday that Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a former Democratic governor of Mississippi, had chosen to name a Navy cargo ship under construction in San Diego after the migrant labor leader. Chavez will join aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, astronauts Alan Shepard and Wally Schirra, and assassinated civil rights hero Medgar Evers, whose names...

The next U.S. Navy cargo ship will be named after civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, the Secretary of the Navy officially announced Wednesday afternoon at a Barrio Logan ceremony. The news was met with pride by members of the Chavez family who were on hand at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard for the announcement, but it was not without controversy as it drew fire from a Southern California congressman. Navy secretary Ray Mabus stood alongside members of the Chavez family and the current president of the United Farm Workers of America to acknowledge the naming of the USNS Cesar Chavez,...

SAN DIEGO -- The Navy has named the last of 14 new cargo ships after the late farm labor leader Cesar Chavez.

The Navy's weighing a decision to name a cargo ship now under construction after labor activist Cesar Chavez has drawn sharp criticism from one veteran lawmaker who says that a military war hero should receive the honor instead. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he understands the Navy's desire to honor Hispanic leaders, but the Navy may want to skip the politically divisive names and opt for an outstanding service member. "If this decision were about recognizing the Hispanic community's contribution to our nation, many other names come to mind, including Marine Corps Sergeant Rafael...

The last of the 14 Lewis and Clark-class cargo ships that General Dynamics NASSCO is building in San Diego will be named after Cesar Chavez, the late civil rights and labor leader. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus will visit NASSCO on Tuesday afternoon to make the formal announcement. Some members of the Chavez family are expected to be in attendance, says NASSCO, which recently laid the keel of the ship. "We suggested the name Cesar Chavez for the ship because we're in Barrio Logan and want to be good neighbors, and we want to show respect for our workers,"...

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) disagrees with the Navy's decision to name a cargo ship under construction in San Diego for California farm labor leader Cesar Chavez. The decision, announced Tuesday, "appear[s] to be more about making a political statement than upholding the Navy's history and tradition," Hunter said in press release....

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The Navy is considering naming a cargo ship that's being built after farmworker activist Cesar Chavez. James Gill, a spokesman for General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, said Monday the company suggested the name to honor its mostly Hispanic work force and the mostly Hispanic neighborhood, Barrio Logan, where the boat builder is located.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 460,000 (week ending 4/3/2010) the Labor Department said. The prior week was adjusted to reflect 442,000 initial claims versus the previously reported 439,000. A Labor Department official attributed the rise in claims to seasonal volatility, mainly from the Easter holiday (a.k.a Easter Bunny) and noted there were shutdowns in two states. A holiday on March 31 in California (Cesar Chavez Day) also had an effect on claims, he said. Wanted By The Department of Labor... Easter Bunny and Cesar Chavez.

The Dallas City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to rename a short stretch of a downtown street for civil rights hero and farm labor champion César Chávez, capping two years of struggle often rooted in raw feelings over race, culture and a changing city. < snip > At City Hall and around Dallas, the process to rename a street for Chávez engendered hard feelings among proponents and opponents alike. But the mood in the City Council chambers was buoyant Wednesday, with Hispanic leaders joining with black, Asian and other minority groups in a standing ovation when the vote was taken. Several...

César Chávez Elementary School 825 Shotwell Street San Francisco, CA. 94110 Voice/TTY (415) 695-5765 Fax (415) 695-5843 Email: sch603@muse.sfusd.edu Silent Language of the Soul (©1990), mural by Juana Alicia & Susan Cervantes, welcomes diversity in our school. Full image (500 K) Si Se Puede (©1996) mural by Susan Cervantes, keeps César Chávez' s struggle for justice and dignity alive. Full image (340K) Our Mission Statement César Chávez School is a community of life-long learners, achievers and activists who support self determination. We incorporate and integrate academic skills, leadership development, and cultural awareness that is relative to the reality of our...

Oakland — Honoring the memory of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, about 30 students and other activists marched down International Boulevard today demanding rights for immigrant students. "The families of undocumented students pay taxes and make an enormous contribution to our nation's economy and prosperity, yet their sons and daughters face the same kind of discrimination that young black students experienced in the old Jim Crow south," read a statement from By Any Means Necessary, the organization that held the march. The Federal DREAM Act, which would give those students access to financial aid, was reintroduced last week, as was...

LORETITO, Mexico — It's the end of the day here. Down one lonely street two young boys kick a ball between them, as an elderly woman slowly makes her way nearby. On most days, this little town about 300 miles northwest of Mexico City feels like the set of a Hollywood movie — its narrow streets and alleyways silent, stark, deserted. From the sidewalk outside his small liquor shop, Edmundo Cruz takes in the vast emptiness, pointing out one house after another left vacant when families headed north — to Seattle. It is said more Loretito people now live in...

Obama, who has struggled to overcome Clinton's significant advantage among Latino voters in state after state, sought to one-up his rival for the Democratic presidential nod by joining the call for creating a national holiday to commemorate the father of the United Farm Workers. "That's why I support the call to make Cesar Chavez's birthday a national holiday. It's time to recognize the contributions of this American icon to the ongoing efforts to perfect our union." Eight states commemorate Chavez' birthday in some fashion. In California, all state offices are closed, but local government facilities and public schools are open....

PORTLAND, ORE. -- Fourth Avenue ambles for 30 blocks past high-rise office towers, regional banks, upscale retailers and such urban landmarks as the county courthouse and City Hall. Fourth also rolls through one of Portland's most prominent symbols of diversity: Chinatown. An ornamental red and gold gateway inscribed with dragons and Chinese characters greets visitors and evokes ties to the Pacific Rim. Red and gold street lamps, a gift from Taiwan, line the street near restaurants that specialize in dim sum. This is not the street that Latino activist Marta Guembes wanted to rename in honor of Cesar E. Chavez,...

AUSTIN – It took 124 years, but the largest university in Texas on Tuesday unveiled a monument to a Latino leader, Cesar Chavez. “Cesar would be humbled to be acknowledged in this way,” said Juan C. Gonzalez, vice president for Student Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Chavez’s granddaughter, Christine Chavez, and the nation’s head of higher education were among the speakers as more than 1,000 people sang, cried, cheered remembered the legacy of the Mexican-American labor organizer who grew up picking crops in California and went on to found the United Farm Workers union. The statue is...

There is no affection between Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joe Baca (D-Calif.) and the Sanchez sisters — as the recent attempted coup against him made plain. And Baca burned his bridges yet further on Monday by declaring that lawmakers should not take off work in honor of Cesar Chavez’s birthday, which was last Saturday. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) was the only member of the caucus to close her office Monday in honor of the Hispanic civil rights leader. Baca had these choice words for her decision. “Cesar Chavez worked his whole life toward achieving equality and fair labor rights. I...

LOS ANGELES -- High school students said they planned to walk out of school at schools across the Southland on Friday, to demand that Cesar Chavez Day be declared a national holiday. Shortly before 8 a.m., dozens of students could be seen leaving the campus of Roosevelt High School, at 456 South Mathews St., and continuing in an orderly procession. "Scattered walkouts" were reported at other schools in Los Angeles, NBC4's Justin Jaeger said at 8:30 a.m...

SAN DIEGO -- Courts and San Diego city and county government offices will be closed Friday for Cesar Chavez Day. Refuse and recyclables will be collected one day later in the city of San Diego, according to the city's Mona Favorite-Hill. Garbage collection will return to its normal schedule on Monday. Tickets won't be issued for expired parking meters or parking in areas scheduled for street sweeping, Favorite-Hill said. All other parking restrictions will be in effect and enforced. All city and county branch libraries will be closed, as will the city of San Diego's community service centers, police storefronts,...

With Internet postings urging a revival of student protests over immigration reform, California school administrators were ready Friday to lock down campuses or use other measures to prevent mass walkouts. The school day began quietly in Los Angeles County, where the week began with the largest of protests that occurred in California and other states - some 36,000 students marching out of two-dozen school districts to influence Congressional debate on proposals affecting millions of illegal immigrants in the United States. No walkouts were reported by early morning. "Nothing. Maybe they're all pooped," said Monica Carazo, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles...

Cesar Chavez, MinutemanThe UFW leader was no friend to illegal immigration— until he became an ethnic figurehead.By Steve SailerIn California, only three birthdays are official state holidays: Jesus Christ’s, Martin Luther King’s, and Cesar Chavez’s. Beatification as a secular saint, though, isn’t always good for the soul. A recent four-part exposé by reporter Miriam Pawel in the Los Angeles Times revealed how the labor leader turned revered ethnic icon descended into paranoia, megalomania, and general crack-pottery in the 15 years before his death in 1993. Today, his United Farm Workers functions less as a union—it represents only 2 percent of...

# The movement built by Cesar Chavez has failed to expand on its early successes organizing poor rural laborers. As their plight is used to attract donations that benefit others, services for those in the fields are left to languish. Red letters flash inside the famous black eagle, symbol of the United Farm Workers: "Donate," the blinking message urges, to carry on the dreams of Cesar Chavez. Bannered on websites and spread by e-mail, the insistent appeals resonate with a generation that grew up boycotting grapes, swept up in Chavez's populist crusade to bring dignity and higher wages to farmworkers....

Red letters flash inside the famous black eagle, symbol of the United Farm Workers: "Donate," the blinking message urges, to carry on the dreams of Cesar Chavez. Bannered on websites and spread by e-mail, the insistent appeals resonate with a generation that grew up boycotting grapes, swept up in Chavez's populist crusade to bring dignity and higher wages to farmworkers. Thirty-five years after Chavez riveted the nation, the strikes and fasts are just history, the organizers who packed jails and prayed over produce in supermarket aisles are gone, their righteous pleas reduced to plaintive laments. What remains is the name,...

A former school official in San Antonio wants to change the name of an elementary school from one with Confederate connotations to one with socialist ones because the former is racist, reports the San Antonio Express-News.

The debate comes down to this: Was Stonewall-Flanders Elementary School named for the legendary Confederate general Stonewall Jackson or for stone fences that adorned front yards in the neighborhood? Harlandale Independent School District trustees will consider the question as they decide whether to grant a former district administrator's request to rename the school after César Chávez, the late social activist. "We don't have any historical evidence that it was, indeed, named for Stonewall Jackson," district spokesman David Ochoa said Monday, when the Board of Trustees heard the proposal. Nick Calzoncit thinks otherwise, though he can provide no concrete evidence to...

Founders of the Cesar Chavez charter schools yesterday formally opened their second high school in the District with the expectation of continuing the perfect record of every graduate being accepted into college. "Every child in America should have access to a facility like this," founder Irasema Salcido said to a gymnasium packed with parents and students at the new Chavez Parkside campus. Principal Susan Flora has been with the Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy since the first one opened in 1998 with 60 students in the basement of a Safeway grocery store. "Thank you for making education...

Miguel Contreras, the Los Angeles labor chief who rose from the ranks of Cesar Chavez's farm labor movement to head one of the most powerful unions in the nation, died Friday of an apparent heart attack, officials said. He was 53. Contreras, as executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, took control of the umbrella organization of unions and built it into a potent political force that today includes more than 300 affiliates and 800,000 members and wields enormous influence across Southern California. Details were sketchy about what occurred Friday, but officials said Contreras appeared to...

If Cesar Chavez were still alive, he would have wanted this day named in his honor to be more than a celebration, according to his friend, Father Patricio Guillen of Ontario. "Everyone can celebrate, but we need to do more than celebrate," said Guillen, executive director of the San Bernardino-based immigrant service organization Libreria del Pueblo. "We need to continue to struggle, promote and defend the rights of farmworkers today, especially since many of them today are undocumented and they have greater problems as far as being able to organize." While Chavez is being commemorated today - his birthday -...

It was no accident the College Republicans at Western Michigan University picked Thursday to host conservative commentator and three-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. They intentionally picked the day that commemorates Mexican-American civil-rights leader Cesar E. Chavez to make a statement about illegal immigration from Mexico. "Viva Buchanan! Celebrate Cesar Chavez Day with Pat Buchanan," reads one poster advertising Buchanan's 7 p.m. speech. "College Republicans declare March 31st America First Day," reads another. A third poster features a quote attributed to Buchanan: "American soldiers defend the borders of Korea, Kuwait and Kosovo. But nothing is at risk on those borders, half...

From everything I've heard and read, Cesar Chavez was a wonderful man. I'm not just saying that, either. I just want to make it clear that I have nothing against him, personally. But, another state holiday, for crying out loud! I don't even want to get into the cost in tax dollars for these paid-vacations. But, surely enough is enough, already. We are told that Senor Chavez is the first Latino so honored here in California. He may be the first, but I can assure you, with the fast-growing number of Hispanics in the state, he won't be the last....

...But for the Republicans this is unadulterated good news. It vindicates "Jorge" Bush's hunch that aggressively pursuing the Hispanic vote would pay off. His familiarity with Mexican-Americans in Texas formed in him an instinct.... The Hispanic entry into Republican ranks comes, for many, at an earlier phase in their American journey than for other immigrant groups. Just think of the Irish, Italians and Jews, who generations after arrival on these shores can still reflexively pull the Democratic lever. Their vestigial loyalty is the result of what has been the Democratic Party's strategy for over a century. The bargain back in...

Berkeley Children Pay Tribute to Cesar Chavez “Viva la raza, Cesar Chavez!” yelled 40 youth as they paraded around a North Berkeley neighborhood, holding red flags and wearing cloth bands in remembrance of the Mexican-American labor leader. In the Live Oak Recreation Center after-school program, started in the 1960s, elementary school children celebrated Cesar Chavez Day for the first time. “We’re remembering Cesar Chavez and all the hard work he did to help farmers and the crops,” said 9-year-old Kelechi Okereke. When he died in 1993, Chavez left behind a legacy as the civil rights leader who organized the...

César Chávez: Let Us Speak His Name By Santiago Casal Special to the Planet (03-30-04) There is an old saying that “to speak the name of our ancestors is to keep them alive.” Today I speak the name of labor leader and environmentalist, César Estrada Chávez. He was a man who died prematurely at 66, a life worn out by dedicated service, personal sacrifice, constant threats to his and his family’s life; and the formidable efforts of agribusiness, Teamsters, and government agents to derail everything he tried to accomplish. Those of us who lived during the tenure of his...

Statement from Kerry on Cesar Chavez Day 3/29/2004 12:20:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Laura Capps of John Kerry for President, 202-712-3000; Web: http://www.johnkerry.com SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today, John Kerry visited the 4th Annual Cesar Chavez Youth Forum in Sacramento to talk with a group of children working on a service project commemorating Cesar Chavez Day. Kerry met with children and read an excerpt from Kathleen Krull's "Harvesting Hope," a children's book that details the story of Cesar Chavez's 340-mile march to protest the working conditions of migrant farm workers in California. The holiday...

Advocates push for Cesar Chavez school EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - A coalition of Hispanic advocates is gaining support in its effort to name a new elementary school in honor of Cesar Chavez, the labor union organizer who led successful boycotts in support of migrant farm workers in the 1970s. The name is one of five under consideration for the building under construction next to Ida Patterson Elementary School on the city's south side. The Eugene School Board will hear from the public next Wednesday before naming the school in March. Jim Garcia, diversity coordinator at Lane Community College, said...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - If anyone deserves a quiet retirement it's Dolores Huerta, but the co-founder of the United Farm Workers, who raised 11 children even as she led marches and strikes that repeatedly put her in hospitals and jails, isn't slowing down. She re-learned how to walk in time to march on Sacramento last year after a near-fatal aneurism left her incapacitated. And now she's giving away a $100,000 award she recently received for her lifetime of service, to launch a new foundation in her name.

Chavez commemorative stamp on sale Thursday BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer A long-awaited commemorative postal stamp of Mexican-American leader and activist Cesar Chavez will go on sale Thursday at post offices nationwide. The United States Postal Service will print 75 million of these stamps, available for only one year. The release coincides with the 10th anniversary of Chavez' death. The stamp shows the profile of a smiling Chavez with agricultural fields in the background. "Cesar Chavez was so overwhelmingly requested as a stamp that yes, the (Cesar E. Chavez) Foundation worked with the postal service on this, but it...

Cesar Chavez stamp unveiled in San Jose April 24 (San Jose-AP) -- A new stamp honoring farm labor leader Cesar Chavez will be unveiled in San Jose next week. The Postal Service announced today the stamp will be unveiled at a ceremony April 24th at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante and Chavez's widow, Helen, will be on hand. Chavez founded the United Farm Workers Union. He died in 1993.

Which Way to Cesar Chavez? By JOHN GELUARDI (04-15-03) City Council’s effort to rename a major Berkeley street in honor of labor leader Cesar Chavez may be headed for a bump in the road. At its meeting April 8, the council unanimously approved the creation of a council subcommittee to study which major street, or streets, would be a good candidate for a possible name change. So far, possibilities include Ashby and University avenues and Gilman and Sacramento streets. One proposal would change two streets — Gilman and Sacramento, which nearly connect in northwest Berkeley — into one continuous...

<p>HOENIX - Before he died a decade ago, legendary United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez laid plans for a radio network that would tie together the immigrant farmworker community spread across the remotest ranches and farms in the Southwest.</p> <p>He lived long enough to see the first piece put into place; the first UFW-owned, nonprofit station went on the air in Visalia, Calif., in 1983. But it was tough to get anyone to listen to the rather dry political messages it broadcast.</p>

When Coloradoans went to the polls on November 5th,2002 they were asked to vote yes on Referendum E. "Shall the thirty- first day of March be designated a legal holiday for observing the birthday of Cesar Estrada Chavez as "Cesar Chavez day"?Approximately 80% of Coloradoans voted NO. This included counties such as Conejos and Costilla Counties in which hispanics are in the majority Initiatives and Referendums have become a tool of special interest groups to rally the voting population to the polls. However, sometimes they can backfire, as in the case of the Cesar Chavez referendum. Some believe that this...

PacificNews.Org NewCaliforniaMedia YouthOutlook BeatWithin PoetryTelevision Debug Roaddawgz PacificNews.Org > Content News Wire World Relations Beliefs Earth Ethnic Media Health Money Rights Society Youth Contributors Gallery About Us Programs Subscribe Contact Search Job Search NCM TV New California Media - The New America Now Chicano Activists Risk Hijacking Cesar Chavez LegacyBy Gustavo Arellano, Pacific News Service, March 26, 2002 Labor leader Cesar Chavez inspired low-paid agricultural workers from California to Florida. But as California observes Cesar Chavez Day this weekend, his memory is in danger of being hijacked by Chicano activists, who define the Chavez legacy in more narrow cultural...

Faced with the sometimes choppy waters of ethnic politics, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday could have used the navigating prowess of Christopher Columbus and the negotiating skills of Cesar Chavez. The touchy issue at hand: whether to allow 2,000 city employees to take Cesar Chavez Day as a paid city holiday instead of Columbus Day. The proposal drew a storm of protest from the Italian American community, including a letter of opposition signed by former Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda, actor Joe Mantegna and Democratic strategist Joe Cerrell, among others. Italian Americans do not oppose declaring Cesar Chavez's birthday...