New national park proposed to honor Cesar Chavez, Filipino labor leaders and the UFW

The Cesar Chavez National Monument in La Paz, CA would become part of the proposed
national park honoring the agricultural workers movement.

A bill was introduced to Congress to create a new national historical park to mark the life of Cesar E. Chavez and the wider farmworker movement including the pivotal role of Filipino labor leaders on Thursday, June 9.

The bill submitted by California's Rep Raul Ruiz and Senator Alex Padilla would designate a Cesar Chavez and Farmworker Movement National Historical Park, is the result of more than a decade of work by community advocates, members of Congress, and a wide range of organizations, including the National Parks Conservation Association.

If passed, the bill would expand the existing Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in La Paz, CA. and create a new park with multiple sites in California and Arizona. 

In addition to exploring Cesar Chavez’s life and work, the park will celebrate and share other leaders and aspects of the farmworker movement including Larry Itliong and the Filipino farmworkers who were instrumental to the creation of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. Without Itliong and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee that he represented and made up mostly of Filipinos, there would be no UFW.

(EDITOR'S OPINION INSERTED HERE: Perhaps a more appropriate name for the proposed park would be the "Chavez-Itliong and Farmworker Movement National Historical Park.")

The park would also include “The 40 Acres” in Delano, California, which served as the first headquarters for the UFW and the site of Agbayani Village, a retirement home for farmworkers. It would also include the route of the 300-mile farmworker march to Sacramento in 1966, which generated national attention to their struggle for dignity, better working conditions, and fair wages.

The legislation follows recommendations finalized by the National Park Service in 2012 from its multi-year study of the life of Cesar Chavez and the history of the farmworker movement in California and the West.

“It is crucial that our national parks represent the diversity of America and respect the rich heritage of its people. Establishing this National Park would help fulfill this vision,” said Dr. Michelle Magalong, President of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation. 

“Establishing such a park is an opportunity to spread the legacy and vision of Chavez and other leaders in the farm labor movement to audiences around the country. We support honoring the legacy of many leaders of the farm labor movement and support legislation by Senator Padilla and Representative Ruiz to establish the Cesar E. Chavez and the Farmworker Movement National Historical Park,” said Magalong.

Larry Itliong, right, and Cesar Chavez, left, were co-leaders of the UFW.

NPCA has been involved in multiple aspects of the effort for more than a decade, including calling for and celebrating the establishment of the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, supporting the Park Service in its multi-year study, facilitating conversations with key stakeholders and partners, and assisting the legislative offices now championing this effort in Congress.

“Only 8% of historic, cultural, and public land designations are based on Latino, Black, Indigenous and other communities of color histories and this offers an opportunity to expand our nation’s narrative to be inclusive of the histories and contributions of Latino communities in the United States.” said Shanna Edberg, Director of Conservation Programs for Hispanic Access Foundation. 

“Ten years after President Obama established the César E. Chávez National Monument, we call on Congress to build upon that foundation through a National Historical Park that will preserve the broader history of the Farmworker Movement – a movement that united heroic women and men who were seeking fairness and equality,” said Sehila Mota Casper, Executive Director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation. 

“We also recognize that the National Park Service must continue to improve upon its efforts to be America’s storyteller and thereby attract, educate, and serve America’s increasingly diverse population," Mota continued. "The César E. Chávez and the Farmworker Movement National Historical Park would interpret an important chapter in our nation’s history, celebrate our nation’s growing diversity, and strengthen the unity we must share today if we are to overcome the challenges of tomorrow.”

The NPCA played a similar role in the establishing the newest national park, the Amache National Historic Site in Colorado where thousands of Japanese Americans were unconstitutionally incarcerated during WWII. It gained national park status in March of this year.

“The new park will highlight Cesar Chavez’s life and work, as well as celebrate and share other leaders and aspects of the farmworker movement including Larry Itliong and the Filipino farmworkers, who were instrumental to the creation of the United Farm Workers," said Sally Garcia, Los Angeles Outreach Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).  

"It will play an important role in our political and social discourse in immigration, civil and labor rights, and issues relevant to the Latinx community,” 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

House Resolution 103 names members of Congress who supported racist insurrectionists of 1/6

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For the first time in history, the Confederate flag entered the U.S. Capitol Building on 1/6.

As the Senate hears the arguments for the conviction on Donald Trump and the role he played in trying to destroy American democracy, members of Congress want to remind the nation of the racist nature of the 1/6 insurrection.

"There must be no illusions about the overt role white nationalism and bigotry played in the January 6th insurrection that cost five lives and threatened many others,” said  Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, who introduced House Resolution 103.

The complete title of HR 103 is: "Condemning the bigotry that was displayed and voiced during the January 6th siege of the United States Capitol, the prominent role played by White supremacists and domestic terrorists in planning and leading the siege, and the elected officials who encouraged them."

Leaders of the Congressional Tri-Caucus – composed of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) – introduced a resolution, HR 103, on Feb. 9 condemning the bigotry and white nationalism that fueled the Jan. 6 siege on the US Capitol, and denouncing Republicans who encouraged the attack, organized and carried out by self-declared white supremacists.

"The FBI has told us that this was organized by numerous known white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other domestic extremists," said the California member of Congress. "And the insurrectionists’ embrace of racism and violence was plainly visible with symbols of hate on display, like the swastika, Confederate battle flag, and more."

The  resolution also calls out individual Congressmembers for their apparent support of the racist seditionists.

"Whereas even after the siege, Senator Josh Hawley, Congressman Mo Brooks, Congressman Paul Gosar, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Congresswoman Lauren Boebert continued to support the seditionists who perpetrated this heinous and treasonous act," reads the resolution, adding that other Republican members of Congress called the seditionists "patriots," and voted to not certify Biden's landslide victory.

Chu continuted: "No Member of Congress should be proudly associating with, let alone encouraging, domestic terror groups that violently threaten people of color and religious minorities. It’s time we take white nationalist domestic extremism seriously, and that starts with calling out the way some leaders in government have empowered these groups." 

“The failed insurrection is a grim reminder that while we have made tremendous progress, America still must reckon with the fact that communities of color are still suffering the personal, professional, and societal impacts of systemic racism," added CBC Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio. 

“This betrayal of our Constitution is a consequence of tolerating and enabling racism in violent rhetoric, dehumanizing and demonizing immigrants and others, and fearful conspiracy theories," said CHC Chair Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D. of California.

The FBI has called domestic terrorist groups like the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, Bugaloo Boys and such the greatest danger to the United States. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center cite the white nationlists for their racist actions in their annual reports of hate crimes and incidents.

In the reports, the past year has seen a spike in anti-AAPI acts, attacks and crimes in the past year since the pandemic took grip in the US. The racist nature of the rhetoric spewing forth from the Trump administration in blaming China for the cause of the pandemic have spurred the rise in anti-Asian sentiment, the reports agree.

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Rep. Ted Lieu is one of the impeachment managers arguing for Donald Trump's conviction 

Members of these white supremacist groups are among the 200 arrested, thus far, for their role in organizing and encouraging the takeover of the Capitol while Congress was certifying the electoral vote results of the Presidential election won by President Biden.

The House of Representatives has impeached Trump for inciting the insurrectionists and the Senate is in the midst of hearing House members' arguments for conviction.

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu, a House impeachment manager, said on Wednesday that former President Trump encouraged the racist seditionists to take over the Capitol when he “ran out of nonviolent options to maintain power.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: To read the entire House Resolution 103, click here.