Here I was writing about solidarity among all people working for justice, and I neglected to mention Cesar Chavez Day. The United Farm Workers celebrates Chavez's birthday every year. (This year there's a "virtual march" fundraiser.) 2005 also marks the 40th anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike, a landmark in the American labor movement.
Cesar Chavez was a great American and a hero to all working people. He is best known for founding, with Delores Huerta, the United Farm Workers, and for his nonviolent tactics in the fight for the rights of migrant farm workers. The UFW and its predecessors also helped Latinos become citizens and register to vote, exposed and fought police brutality, and advocated for better living conditions in the barrios.
Chavez spent his whole life in The Struggle, and understood that all our struggles are linked. We had the privilege of hearing him speak at a huge gay-rights rally in Washington, DC, the last time the AIDS Quilt was displayed in its entirety.
You can read about Chavez and the history of the UFW on the UFW's site. Unfortunately, you can't link to specific pages! (It's not set up well.) But you can go to the main page, then click on the word "history" on the top banner.
For more information about (and pictures of) the AIDS quilt, visit The Names Project.
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