Famous Vegans Part II
César Chávez
I still have trouble with the Substack editor in Google Chrome — apparently, because I use the DuckDuck Go app. Until this is fixed (and they assured me it will be) I have to use Firefox which takes way more time. (Teaching an old horse new tricks…)
Yesterday (March 31, the day I wrote this piece) was César Chávez’s birthday. March 31 was declared as César Chávez Day by The White House, by California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, and was observed by Arizona’s cities of Phoenix and Tuscon. President Barack Obama proclaimed it as a federal commemorative holiday in 2014.
Although he has been given ample recognition as a celebrated labor leader and as the founder of the United Farm Workers of America, the fact that he also was an outspoken animal activist, a vegetarian and at times vegan, is hardly known at all. Even his long Wikipedia page features nothing more than a brief mention that he became a vegetarian in 1970.1 I don’t think this does him justice. He strongly opposed any exploitation of animals, whether it was for research, for sports, for entertainment, or food.
I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry and unhappy like we do. I feel very deeply about vegetarianism and the animal kingdom. It was my dog Boycott who led me to question the right of humans to eat other sentient beings. The basis for peace is respecting all creatures.2
Chávez's nonviolent approach to activism is as relevant today as it was throughout his life. We can honor him today and every day by working to protect the rights of all beings, including animals. When we speak out against the oppression of animals suffering in factory farms, in laboratories, at the end of chains, in a circus or rodeo, we honor his commitment to social justice, welfare, and compassion.
The underlying principle behind Chávez's slogan ¡Sí, se puede! ("Yes, we can!") in response to injustice is to never give up. To truly honor his inspiring life, it is necessary to uphold his values and to educate people about the unjust ways animals are exploited. There are many small ways one can fight for the well-being of all creatures, including forests and trees. Paying attention to one’s food is actually a big step.
“The basis for peace is to respect all creatures” and “Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others”, he said (sorry, I couldn’t find out when or where)– I totally believe this to be true. I’m convinced that the killing of animals in order to eat them, the fact that many people simply accept this as a given, is a major factor for wars.
César Chávez was born near Yuma, Arizona on March 31, 1927. Due to some dishonest land developer César’s father lost his farm, and in 1938 his family moved to California. The injustice of his father’s treatment left a lasting impression on César who was eleven years old at the time. “ The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of our being but it is also the most true to our nature.”, he stated later.
As migrant farm workers during the Great Depression, César and his family worked all over California, from Brawley to Oxnard, Atascadero, Gonzales, King City, Salinas, McFarland, Delano, Wasco, Selma, Kingsburg, and Mendota3, constantly moving to a different area or city. César and his brother Richard attended thirty-seven different schools because the family could never stay long in one place but had to move to wherever they could find work.
The young boy hated school because he was being teased and punished for speaking Spanish. Anglo kids looked down on poor Latino kids, and racial discrimination was common in the early 1940s. In Delano, California, where the family had settled by 1943, he challenged the segregation policy in theaters by refusing to sit in the “Mexicans” section; he was detained by the police for one hour.4 He was 16 years old.
Although he graduated after the eighth grade because he had to help support his family (his father had suffered an accident and he didn’t want his mother to work in the fields), Chávez became an avid reader and was passionate about education. Biographies of Gandhi in particular influenced him strongly, and he became a lifelong advocate for ahimsa – the principle of nonviolence. Just like Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, he called for peaceful protest and political activism.
After ten years as activist and organizer in the Community Service Organization (CSO) which fought against racial and economic discrimination against Hispanic people, Chávez was able to realize his dream: to organize a union that would protect and serve the farm workers whose poverty and powerlessness he had shared.5 In 1962 he founded what would become the United Farmworkers of America (UFW), the first successful labor union for farm workers in American history.
I had read Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle as a teenager, and was deeply shocked by the criminal, unfair, and violent treatment that union activists met from landowners, growers, politicians, and law enforcement when they tried to organize a strike. The farm workers had no rights, lived in dismal conditions, received pitiful pay for excruciating and long hours of work, and were absolutely powerless against shameless exploitation and inhumane cruelty. The book was written in 1936 and the story takes place during a fruit pickers’ strike in Tulare County, California, during the Great Depression. The conditions for farm laborers had improved somewhat by the time Chávez formed his union, but not by much. Lousy pay, lousy working conditions, and discrimination still made the lives of farm workers a living hell.
Between 1962 and 1965, Chávez tirelessly encouraged workers to join the union, and by 1970 it had about 50,000 dues-paying members. Using non-violent tactics, he organized strikes, boycotts, and peaceful marches. In February of 1968 he began a 25-days-long, water-only fast; in part to remind union members to refrain from violence. Another fast in 1970 in support of a strike of lettuce cutters against the Salinas Valley lettuce growers lasted 25 days, and in 1987, to protest the use of pesticides which caused serious health problems for the workers, he fasted for 36 days. One of the many results of his activism was the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, signed by California governor Jerry Brown. It guaranteed the farm workers’ right to organize, choose their own union representative and negotiate with their employers.
He died on April 23, 1993, in San Luis, Arizona.
I must confess that I rarely think about where my food comes from. I’ll try to be more appreciative and more aware of the labor that brings the apples, carrots, tomatoes and all the other edibles to my table.
An early reminder: on April 4, 2023, it’ll be 55 years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
Incidentally, I found the Wikipedia page biased and not truly objective. The source for at least three quarters of all the references is ONE single biography, written by somebody who I trust tried to be non-partisan; however, the quotations chosen on the page appear to be one-sided to me.
Very interesting history, never knew that about Chavez. I think the link between how we treat animals and how we treat each other is an intriguing one, that should be explored more. Question, you mention how you believe eating/killing animals and wars are related. Could you elaborate on that (why, how)?