Monday, March 31, 2008

Obama calls for Cesar Chavez Day

link
  1. I think this is a great idea.
  2. I don't think this should be an 'Independence Day' day-off type day. It should be more of a 'only Grammar School kids are aware of it' day like Flag Day.
We don't need any more legal holidays. I just found out that Good Friday's not a federal holiday, so I have to suspect that the next legal holiday's going to take Christmas out.

But, maybe we should start 'Cesar Chavez Day' traditions, so that adults are aware of it, like St. Patrick's Day, St. Valentine's Day and Secretary's Day (which is coming up, btw). We could ask for a day of demonstrations. Or! If companies were required to post how much direct labor they produced, versus how much they passed on to contractors, that would honor his memory pretty well.

Cesar Chavez Day disclosure! Anybody for a march?

Update: I should clarify that while honoring laborers deserves a day off, I think we do it on Labor Day already. I know it seems unfair that war dead get two days off while laborers -- who are more important and more populous -- only get one, but the war dead died, ostensibly defending our interests, while laborers generally get to live until black lung gets them.

4 comments:

Beth said...

How about the laborers who built the tunnels and bridges?

"Hundreds have died beneath New York's streets and rivers since the 1870's, as they set the foundations for the Brooklyn Bridge, gnawed beneath the city's skin to dig the subway lines, bored deep into gneissic rock to build a water system that pumps 1.2 billion gallons a day."

Or are we only talking about farm laborers?

Rionn Fears Malechem said...

While Cesar Chavez only worked on behalf of farm laborers, his efforts spilled over into labor protections for everyone. Let's see, if I wanted to know something about the historical impact of a transformative figure, where would I go?

Actually, this is pretty surprising to read in the text of a Wikipedia article

The claims below are with little support. Sources 4, 6 and 7 are legitimate sources, but they do not support this claim. The claim by Reed Irving in Accuracy in the Meida, is one of the major right wing sources in the U.S. The one source that supports these claims, is a direct quote, from the column by Rueben Navarette. He makes the claims with out support.

The 'claims' have to do with United Farm Workers opposition to immigration. It does seem like it would be kind of made up.

Beth said...

Aware of Chavez history... was referring to your claim "but the war dead died, ostensibly defending our interests, while laborers generally get to live until black lung gets them."

Rionn Fears Malechem said...

Yes, of course. I got distracted by the argument in the middle of the article.

Laborers also die. But, glory is one of the rewards warriors are promised. They don't produce anything useful, so glory's really the best they can hope for. I'm glad to give them a second holiday. If you die making a bridge, your brother's descendants can point to the bridge.

This is one of President Bush's lasting legacies, as pointed out in the title of Michael Moore's Will They Every Trust Us Again. The shameful ignominy of the invasion and occupation of Iraq steals the promise of glory from our military's service members, leaving our future as undefended as any enemy could want.