Today is Cesar Chávez Day in Denver. Chávez made his name in California and the southwestern U.S. as an activist, labor leader and founder of the United Farm Workers Union. Since his death in 1993, Chávez has become an American icon for many, particularly in Mexican-American communities. Chávez visited Denver several times, including:
June 15, 1966:
Tells protesters at a demonstration, “We have a moral right to protest.” That evening he speaks to an audience of more than 400 at an event organized by the Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales-led Crusade for Justice.
Dec. 21, 1967:
Appears before a crowd of 150 at a luncheon, and accepts a bus filled with donations to assist striking farm workers in California.
April 18, 1975:
Attracts a crowd of about 300 to a fundraising event at the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
April 21, 1979:
At a conference, laments the situation of Western Slope farm workers, saying, “The workers in Colorado are even worse off than the workers in California.”
December 1986:
Calls upon a Denver audience to boycott table grapes in protest of pesticides he claims are harmful to the workers who pick the grapes.
July 1990:
Expresses disappointment with Denver, at an AFL-CIO conference, for not getting behind a grape boycott that found success in other cities.
Remembered in Denver
Since Chávez’s death in 1993, Denver and Colorado have joined multiple cities and states in remembering Chávez as a labor leader and activist.
Denver and Colorado holidays:
In July 2001 Denver Mayor Wellington Webb signed into law that the last Monday in March would be observed as a city and county holiday in honor of Chávez. That March, his birthday became an optional state holiday in Colorado.
Denver park:
Cesar E. Chávez park at West 41st Avenue and Tennyson Street in North Denver was dedicated Aug. 13, 2005.
Federal building:
The Colonnade Center at 1244 Speer Blvd. was renamed the Cesar E. Chávez Memorial Building at a dedication on May 3, 2003, making it the first government building in the country to bear his name. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell spurred the renaming through legislation he introduced the previous September.
Source: Denver Post archives.
