Annotations for Subject-headings: Civic Leaders

We are most honored to have the following dignitaries celebrating with us tonight, and they are the honorable members of Congress. First of all, from Texas, Solomon Ortiz, from California, Esteban Torres from Guam, Ben Blaz, from Arizona, Ed Pastor...

This is the time of the year dedicated to celebrating the contributions Latinos bring to this country. In Washington, an annual ceremony honoring Hispanic achievements in the arts, sports, literature, leadership, and education takes place in September.

A celebration of our culture from all over the world. A big hand for all of our special guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Today, Latino USA begins our Hispanic Heritage Month programming with the words of some of those who've been recognized in the past for their contributions, preserving and enriching Hispanic heritage in the United States.

At a time in life when many are enjoying the easy life of retirement, Dr. Pantoja is actively engaged in building institutions.

Dr. Antonia Pantoja institution is a Puerto Rican educator, the founder of the National Puerto Rican Forum and the Youth Leadership Organization, Aspira.

I invite you to come see me in my retirement. I live in the hills of Puerto Rico in a place called El Yunque, which is a magical mountain. [Natural sounds of clapping] A magical mountain where the Tainos, who were the people who were in Puerto Rico, when Columbus came to find Puerto Rico.

This year, the Smithsonian institution in Washington DC has dedicated its commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month to the memory of Cesar Chavez, the influential farm worker organizer who died last April. The museum staged a tribute to honor the union leader on the night of September 27th.

This cross remind us [unintelligible 0:24:38]

The documentary, Si Se Puede, shown at the Smithsonian as part of its tribute to Cesar Chavez, takes its title from the phrase the labor organizer used to keep his followers from becoming discouraged at the seeming futility of their effort to organize a union for farm workers. The film tells of the struggle to establish that union in Arizona in the early '70s and of the fast Chavez engaged in to call attention to the plight of migrant field workers.

I hope that the end of this fast will mark beginning of the victory here in Arizona. And so I say to any who doubt that victory can be won in Arizona, sí se puede.

I'm Dolores Huerta. I'm the co-founder and first vice president of the United Farm Workers.

Speaking at the Smithsonian Cesar Chavez tribute, Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers had these words on the meaning of the life and death of Cesar Chavez.

We want to talk about what Cesar did in this is a man who had an eighth grade education. He didn't go to high school. His family were migrant workers and he was a self-educated man. But he learned one thing. He learned how to organize, then he was determined that he was going to get farm workers organized and to bring them justice, even knowing that everything else up until the time that Cesar had started had failed. Every single effort had failed. But the foundation...

I just have to say, when they asked Cesar many times, "Cesar, what's going to happen to the United Farm Workers after you leave?" Cesar said, "If I thought that this union would not survive without me, I would not spend one hour of my life to build a union." So he knew. He taught with his life, as you all know...

I wish I could say too that the conditions of workers have improved. I've been working in Arizona recently, and I can tell you that there are workers out there working now that are not getting paid. So Cesar worker has got to continue, but we know that his spirit is with us. And as one of the workers said to me at the funeral when Cesar died, they said before Cesar could only be in one place. He could only be in Delano or in Salinas. Now Cesar can be with us everywhere because his spirit can be with us everywhere.

[Singing]. Up to California. From Mexico you come. To the Sacramento Valley. To toil in the sun. Your wife and seven children. Theyre working everyone. And what will you be giving to your brown eyed children of the sun?

On the second floor of the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, under a glass case, is displayed a black jacket with a red farm worker eagle, the same one worn by Cesar Chavez.