Chávez's granddaughter keeps his activism alive

By Tom Chiari | Staff Writer

When Julie Chávez Rodriguez speaks of her late grandfather, labor and civil rights activist César Chávez, she speaks of both the past and the future.

As part of Eastern Connecticut State University’s weekly “University Hour” lecture series, Rodriguez shared the lessons of her grandfather’s life of service and encouraged students to serve others.

She is program director for the César E. Chávez Foundation and she leads the “Educating the Heart,” program to educate students about the need for service.

Rodriguez began volunteering with the United Farm Workers, the organization Chávez founded, when she was 5 years old.

“Too often, having deep conversations about the history of our lives is lost,” Rodriguez said. “School has become more about facts than history and it’s relevancy. We need to bring history to life.”

She shared her grandfather’s story of personal sacrifice, self-induced poverty and hope with a full crowd at the Paul E. Johnson Sr. Community Room at Eastern’s J. Eugene Smith Library.

She recounted protests, weeks-long fasts and a lack of any security of income in showing Chavez’s commitment to his cause.

Eastern freshmen Nathan Rouisse said Chávez’s story was striking in the amount of personal sacrifice he made and the personal risks he took.
“It takes a lot to do something like that,” he said. “It made me think about giving up a little more to give to others.”

Chávez’s conviction was best expressed when Rodriguez shared the origins of the slogan popularized during President Obama’s campaign, “Yes, we can.”
During Chávez’s 25-day fast in protest of a law denying rights to Arizona farm workers, many of Chávez’s aides told him, “no, se puede,” or “no, we can’t,” to which Chávez replied, “si, se puede,” “yes, we can.”

“Si, se puede,” became the slogan for the United Farm Workers and has come to symbolize peoples’ struggle for rights everywhere.

Rodriguez said these words were especially apt since it was important to encourage sometimes-disengaged students to participate in service.
“There is a level of students that becomes removed from some struggles. Whether it’s physical or more mental, some students are not empathizing,” she said.

She said that although young people face many pressures they also have advantages others don’t enjoy.

“You all being here, having the education that you do, you’re in a powerful position to carry that forward,” she said.

The best advice for students or people who want to support a cause, but aren’t sure where to start, Rodriguez said, is to find something they’re passionate about.

“Passion is the driving force,” she said.

Raja Staggers-Hakim, Eastern’s Women’s Center coordinator and coordinator of the event, said semester-long themes of embracing community and student engagement on worldwide issues were especially present in Rodriguez’s lecture.

“The presentation was important for students and for women,” she said. “Rodriguez is following her grandfather’s legacy with a life of service.”

University Hour is Eastern’s Wednesday afternoon cultural and education series. For more information about upcoming events, call 465-5245.