Farm workers honored
Published 3:03 pm Thursday, March 31, 2005
By Staff
LANSING - Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm will celebrate the second Cesar E. Chavez Day today by attending events in Lansing and Kalamazoo that commemorate the birthday of the late civil rights and labor leader.
Granholm signed legislation in 2003 establishing March 31 as Cesar E. Chavez Day in Michigan.
Throughout today, the governor will address the need to make our state strong and to make it an economic powerhouse by valuing diversity and encouraging creativity. The governor's schedule includes the following:
9 a.m. - Granholm will begin the day with First Gentleman Dan Mulhern hosting a breakfast to honor farm workers and celebrate the life of Cesar E. Chavez. The invitation-only event will be held in the Michigan Room of the George W. Romney Building, 111 S. Capitol Avenue, downtown Lansing.
Noon - the Governor will give brief remarks at the annual celebration honoring the legacy of Cesar Chavez at Western Michigan University's (WMU) Bernhard Center. Western Michigan's Division of Multicultural Affairs, in collaboration with the Kalamazoo Area Cesar E. Chavez Organizing Committee, is sponsoring the celebration.
4 p.m. - Governor Granholm will attend Lansing Community College's Cesar Chavez Day Celebration which will include the dedication of the Cesar Chavez Learning Center at Lansing Community College - Third Floor Lobby of the Gannon Building, downtown Lansing.
Chavez founded the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) in 1962 as a way to protect and serve farm workers whose poverty and disenfranchisement he had shared. For more than three decades, Chavez led the UFW, working for dignity, respect, fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, and humane living conditions as well as countless other rights and protections for hundreds of thousands of farm workers.
Cesar Chavez died on April 23, 1993, at the age of 66.