8/3/2019 Cesar Chavez Letter

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7447 Cleveland Ave.Corona, CA 92280

16 November 2009

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger State Capitol Building

Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

³Yet we know the day must come when they would talk to us, as equals.´ (Huerta) My

name is Andrew Sanchez and I am a 9 th grade freshman at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, and I believe that we should have a state wide holiday in honor of César Chávez. César Chávez was a

key figure in obtaining farm workers rights and forming unions to do so. He had taken theargument to the state¶s capitol and helped many people there.

First, César Chávez had started off small moving ahead to bigger battles. He beganslowly, working only for his village and trying to get basic working conditions. He moved on tostarting strikes with people he worked with alongside in the fields, collecting grapes. His

elementary teacher, Dolores Huerta joined him and his cause and in doing that, she became his partner in trying to win the struggle. The once farm workers that stood in picket lines with him,

lost their jobs as well as a source of income but advanced from picket lines to boycotts, gatheringmore volunteers. Many helped them with this struggle including presidential nominee Robert

Kennedy. César and his supporters continued to go from state to state boycotting grapes and thecorporations that grow them. In the end of the battle the growers signed a contract to give the

workers fair treatment, the entire course of action took more than 20 years from one man¶s

strategy. In having a state-wide holiday we would be honoring his memory. Others may arguethat we would lose a much needed school day. Schools are already getting enough budget cuts,losing teachers, and extracurricular activities like sports and the arts. In fact losing another day of 

school would make the school days uneven, there being 179 school days total. The school districtmay even have to take off more school days until it is a fair number like 175 school days.

However, there are a couple solutions to this dilemma. The school district can also add moredays to school, like a summer vacation day. César Chávez deserves to have a holiday to

acknowledge what he had done for Latino Americas. He and his coworkers were alwaysworking, so in his memory, students and workforce should get a day off to relax and enjoy

themselves.

This is a topic, in which the public can also decide whether to make it a state holiday or not, by voting. This holiday would credit César Chávez for all the things he has done for peoplelike himself and the effort he had put into the conflict to resolve it in his favor. Although we

would be losing a school day, the school district can always find a solution for finding another day or something along that matter. Thank you for taking your time to read this. You may

contact me on my cell phone at the number 951-666-2012.

Sincerely,

Andrew Sanchez