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america fererra:hello. good afternoon. thank you, everybody, forjoining us this afternoon. (applause) thank you all so much forjoining us this afternoon to commemorate cesar chavez's85th birthday by honoring and recognizing tenchampions of change. people who are working every dayon issues including improving the lives of farmworkers;providing quality education for

our youth; and ensuring thatimmigrants have the services that they need to becomefully contributing members of our community. my name is america fererra andit is my honor to serve as your mistress of ceremonies today. growing up the child ofimmigrant parents in california, i have always feltrepresented and inspired by cesar chavez's legacy. it is my deepest privilege tohave been asked recently to

portray the roleof helen chavez, cesar's wife and partnerin the movement -- -- in an upcoming biopic of cesar's life called "chavez." i hope to do thegreat woman justice. because of this, i've had thepleasure of learning about the critical role women played onevery level of this movement, particularly the commitment thathelen displayed on behalf of the families whose liveshanged in the balance. and it gives me great pleasureand no shock whatsoever to see

that eight of our tenchampions today are women. i would just like to personallytake a moment to say thank you to each and every one ofour panelists here today for doing the endless and hard workof not only being a voice for those who too often go unheard,but for empowering them to find the strength and to standup and be heard themselves. now it is my honor to beintroducing our next speaker. cesar luis chavez was born indelano, california, in 1980. he is the son of anthony andanna chavez and grandson of

united farm workersfounder cesar chavez. he grew up at the ufw'sla paz keen, california, headquarters where hebegan his work with the farmworker movement. at the age of five he sat besidehis grandmother helen and helped stuff envelopes for thefarm workers credit union. from a young age cesaraccompanied his grandfather on picket lines and demonstrationsin the central valley, as well as majorcalifornia cities.

he also enjoyed personal timewith his grandfather on hikes in the mountainssurrounding la paz. please join me in welcomingcesar luis chavez to the stage. cesar luis chavez:thank you. on behalf of mygrandmother helen, the entire chavez family and themany farmworkers who shared the suffering with my grandfather, iwould like to thank you all for being here today to honor mygrandfather's life and work and honoring our ten wonderfulchampions of change.

i would also like the recognizea couple members of the family that are in the audience today. my cousins christine andoscar who work for the usda. i would also liketo thank president obama, secretaries salazar,solis and vilsack, and the entire obamaadministration for their leadership and continuedefforts in honoring my grandfather's work. our family hasaccepted these honors,

just like my grandfatheraccepted all of his honors when he was alive, as a tribute tothe hard-working farmworkers that have and continue toput food on our tables. growing up my grandfather sharedstories with us from his early days of organizing. one that i remember most wasone of his first house meetings which took place in the livingroom of a worker's home in california's tulare county. four farmworkercouples were present.

cesar softly asked if theyever heard of the farm workers association, the new movementhe was building in the valley. he knew no one had because cesarjust decided on the name that day -- (laughter) -- butheads leaned forward. he said through this movementfarmworkers could free themselves from the injusticesthey faced on the job and in the community. there was no ready-madeplan, he said, that was why he was meeting withthem to put one together based

on what they, theworkers, wanted. cesar asked for questions. workers raised many issues andinjustices asking if the new farm workersassociation could help. he answered and then explainedthat when the workers have their own association many of theseinjustices would be remedied. but all of that, cesar said,will only come after a long time and all the hard work andsuffering that goes into organizing and strugglingwith the growers for our

union contracts. then one man spoke up. association is a greatidea, mr. chavez. the only trouble isit just won't work. the growers are too powerful. most of the others nodded theirhead in agreement but over in the corner cesar spotted awomen and her husband who were whispering. he gently explained that themistake that farmworkers make is

believing the growers are morepowerful than they really are. it's true. they're powerful all right. but if the movement fails, itwon't be because the growers are powerful enough to stop it, butbecause the workers refuse to use their power to make it go. probably there is no one in thisroom who is willing to help, cesar said, his eyes traveledfrom one worker to another, but i know that somewhere intulare county i will find one

who is willing. that's all i need, just one,because that one will take me to others who feel the same andthey will make workers make a workers committee for thiscountry and when we have such committees in each importantcounty in the state, we will call them together infresno and map the future course of la causa. afterwards the workers cameup company shake his hand. some grabbed a few survey cardsas they left until only the

whispering woman andher husband remained. i am one of few words, theeye began, his eyes shining, i like what you saidtonight, mr. chavez, and there are some on myfield crew that i think would like it, too. if i got them together over atmy house one night soon do you think you could take the timeto come and tell them about it? smiling, cesar held theman's shoulder and said, ay mas tiempo que vida, it'san old mexican de chore saying

meaning there ismore time than life. and that is how it started. cesar searching for those fewpeople that were willing to stand with him forwhat they believed in. and those people searching formore people to all pull together in support for anew association. that september, 200 farmers fromdozens of small valley towns met in fresno to found the nationalfarm workers association which later became the unitedfarm workers of america.

it was those workers thatcesar targeted to help accomplish his goals. workers that stood out aboveeveryone else and helped him create history. fast forward 50 years laterand today we are honoring ten individuals that fit the exactdescription of what cesar was looking for back then: championsof change that are dedicated; champions that are willing togive their lives to help others; champions that areaccepting of all people;

champions of change that havestepped forward and are helping our nation and livingby cesar's core values. starting 50 years ago thefarmworkers started and still end every meeting withthe farm worker clap. i can't think of a betterplace than the white house in washington, d.c. for everyone tojoin me in the farmworker hand clap as we salute today's cesarchavez's champions of change. (rhythmic clapping) thank you.

america fererra:thank you, cesar. as we just heard, cesar chavezwas an ordinary person who was able to accomplish extraordinarythings on behalf of farmworkers and latinos just like the chavezchampions of change we are recognizing today. so without further delay let'sintroduce the stars of this program, this year's cesarchavez champions of change. on our first panel we have:elvira diaz who was born in mexico city, immigrated to theunited states in 1986 and became

a u.s. citizen in 1992. elvira has been working at theprogressive league alliance of nevada in reno since 2010organizing health care events and advocating on behalfof immigration reform and lgbt communities. elvira also has a spanish tvshow, "el pan de cada dia," which means "the daily bread." and has been a radio personalityin two local radio stations in the area helping to educatelatinos about their rights

and responsibilities. rogelio lona is afarmworker, activist, community organizer and aleader in gilroy, california. he has worked in the fieldsof california for more than 47 years and for 32 of those yearshe has been a member of the united farm workers. just like hismentor cesar chavez, lona experienced and livedthe struggles of the early farmworker movement and althoughthe struggle is not over,

lona has also been able tocelebrate some of the victories that farm workers have been ableto accomplish to improve the working conditions of themen and women who labor in the fields. bernardo wong, betterknown as bernie, is a founder and the presidentof the chinese-american service league in chicago, illinois. under bernie's leadership, casl,has grown from a one-person shop in 1979 with an annualbudget of $30,000,

to a thriving organization withan annual budget of $12 million. born and raised in hong kong,bernie's early life experiences set the stage for her missionapproach to serving others with dignity and respect. rob williams is the director ofthe migrant farmworkers justice project established by floridalegal services in 1996 and funded by the floridabar foundation, the project's mission is toprovide access to justice for the more than 150,000farmworkers who live and

work in florida. for more than a decade he hasworked to enact the "add jobs immigration reform" legislationwhich would benefit the 1 million undocumented workersand their families who harvest america's food. and now to introduce ourmoderator for the first panel, viviana hurtado, founding editorof the cutting-edge blog "the wise latino club" which focuseson engaging latinos in political and civic life.

recognized as a boldindependent and emerging voice, viviana is a politicalcontributor on npr's "tell me more" with michelmartin; cnn's "espaã±ol; " and univision's "alpunto con george ramos." born in sanfrancisco, california, to immigrants from colombia,viviana is the proud daughter of a retired machinist and highschool secretary and she is also, like me, a lover of goldenretrievers as it said on her twitter account.

(laughter) please welcome viviana hurtadoand our first panelists. viviana hurtado:thank you, america. i'd like you to know that ipracticed that in front of the bathroom mirror last night. thank you, america. and i also just wanted tointroduce one more panelist, mary jo dudley,who is at my left. mary jo dudley is a facultymember in the department of

development sociology at cornelluniversity and is the director of the cornellfarmworker program. as the director -- (applause)yep, yep, give it up, give it up for mary. as director of the program herwork focuses on improving the living and working conditionsof the farmworkers and their families by educatingfarmworkers and their employers on health, safety, culturaland immigration issues and by conducting research thatexamines the contribution of

farmworkers to the economic andsocial fabric of new york state. she is a founding member of thetomkins county immigrants rights coalition and a member ofthe new york state governor's anti-human traffickingtask force. welcome, mary. and i just also want tosay that only in america, as america said, is it possiblefor the daughter of immigrants from colombia, a retiredmachinist and a retired public school secretary to be heremoderating a panel at the

white house! just incredible. but we are here to honorthe legacy of cesar chavez. he once said that a leadermakes ordinary people do extraordinary things. and that's exactly whatwe're here celebrating. so my first question is going tobe for each of our panelists if you can tell us what you thinkis the legacy of cesar chavez and how your work in thecommunity promotes it and

furthers it. let's start with bernie. bernie wong: thankyou, so much, viviana. good afternoon, everyone. audience members:good afternoon. bernie wong:we're just verydelighted to be here. first of all, i want to thankpresident obama and his plan in developing this "winningthe future initiative" which includes this "championfor change award."

i'm truly, truly honored to bereceiving this award with such distinguished colleaguesespecially in the legacy and spirit of cesar chavez. his life and memory is aconstant reminder to me and it should be to everyone that ifyou have passion that you can accomplish anything and youcan be a champion of change. and i'm very humbledbecause i see a lot, a lot of other peoplewho worked, you know, just as hard as i do out thereand they accomplish a lot.

and so there is really a lot ofchampions of change outside that are not here today so i wantto salute all of them, too. i want to say that immigrantexperience, you know, has many parallels regardlessof what ethnicity you have. we in chicago work with alot of other ethnic groups, other immigrant groups. and so not unlike thelatino immigrant experience, many asian-american also facesa lot of challenges and we go through poverty anddiscrimination and

language barriers. the perception is that theasians do not have that problem and i am here tosay, yes, we do. we have problems just like anyother immigrant population. i make it my life work tofight for the rights of the asian-american and because ibelieve passionately that the dignity and respect and fairworking condition needs to be for everybody. so when i talk about my life'swork i just cannot forget

thinking about my mother. my mother is my role model whohave instilled in me many of the same core values thatcesar chavez had, you know, shared with everybody. my mother just, you know, passedaway at 95 some years ago and i have to say that, you know,she's a true social worker, who was not trainedto be a social worker. she was a three-timefailure, tried to be a nun, and -- (laughter)-- she didn't pass.

and so her mother superiorsaid that, you know, you have a differentmission in life, you know, you should procreate and yourchildren will do other things. (laughter) so that's whati am trying to follow that. so arriving in this country wheni was 18 and now i am a senior citizen, i came with $80 in mypocket and knowing not everyone here, first time flewout from hong kong, never been on a plane, soexperiencing, you know, loneliness and hunger, i reallyfeel the first time, you know,

the experience that many ofthe immigrants feel, you know. and this is why, you know,i pulled together nine of my friends and we decided thatwe want to help the immigrants in chicago. there is a lot of wonderfulsocial services in chicago but they don't have services thatprovide bilingual services to people with limited english. and so i graduatedfrom sioux city, iowa, and went on to do social work.

i wanted to makesure that, you know, that i represent the voiceof the voiceless, you know, which is often the case whenwe, you know, meet our kinds, and i also want to make surethat we protect the rights, you know, of the immigrants, andso this is why we collaborate with a lot of other nonprofitsto do that fighting for immigration reform, fighting forvoters' registration, you know, we have a lot of volunteersthat go around and prepare our individuals to becomecitizens, you know,

and also to get themto register to vote. and so the last couple ofyears in our small area we had registered over 1200individuals, new immigrants, to be citizens. so i just wanted to say that-- i'm losing my thoughts, i'm sorry -- but today, westarted the agency 32 years ago with a desk and a chair and iwas the first executive director and right now wehave over 400 staff. and, you know, as the moderatorsaid we have over $12 million

in budget. and we serve over17,000, you know, individuals a yearwith children all ages. and a lot of timepeople ask me, you know, why do you want to providethis service or that service. we started our child care veryearly on because i saw a mother holding the baby in the backwhile working ten hours in the restaurants. and that really hurts me.

so we started child care. and our very first family camein crying because she said now i can bring my child back fromchina because there is nobody who took care of him here. and they had to send theirinfants to china and they brought him back. so every single thing that wetry to do we try to meet the needs of thecommunity, you know. and i know i am taking upa little bit too much time.

viviana hurtado:thank you, bernie, and what a beautiful messagethat you leave us with that i think does in fact play verywell and continues promoting cesar chavez's legacy which isso many champions of change that are out there. rob, can you tell us how youlive the legacy of cesar chavez in your work in the community? rob williams:well, i think one partof cesar's legacy is that he inspired me and hundredsof other young lawyers to pursue

a career as a farmworkerlegal services lawyer. and today and in past yearsthroughout the united states in rural communities everywhere,many times there is no union to protect farmworkers,there is no organization, but there is a young legalservices attorney who is trying to do his best to enforceworkers' rights and so that's a very big legacy. we see our work at the migrantfarmworker justice protect as a line at the intersection ofeconomic justice and fair

immigration reform. you can't really solve thefarmworker problem in the united states until you solveboth of those questions. everybody knows that two-thirdsof the farmworkers today in the united states are unauthorized,have no legal status to be here. a fact that touches the livesof each and every american every time they sit down and have aglass of orange juice or have a salad, it affects is all. and obviously one facet of theproblem is that we have to pass

an immigration reform thatgives legal status in the path to citizenship. but that's not really enough. because there is another side ofit that i think right now is not being talked about enough. and that is even if we gaveevery farmworker in the country a green card, the majority offarmworkers would still live very hard desperate lives inpoverty and they still would be subjected to unlawful wagesand working conditions every

single day. so there is also that strugglefor economic justice for enforcement of farmworkers'rights and ultimately, you know, the best protection is a union. but realizing that thatwon't happen tomorrow, in the meantime we've got to doeverything we can to enforce the existing rights and lawsto protect farmworkers. and we have to extend rights tothe many farmworkers, i mean, it's unbelievable that in 15states in our country do not

even have the decency to extendthe basic protection of workers' compensation to farmworkers. that should be ashame and ascandal and something that we should not accept. so i guess that's, you know,and that battle, like i say, these struggles have gone on andon and on and won't end any time soon and i think cesar's legacyis that you need to have the heart to keep on fighting thatbattle over and over every day. viviana hurtado:thank you, rob,

and i think that that also tiesin with what cesar said about ay mas tiem pok a via, there is indeed alot of work to be done. and time to work on these issueswhich ties in really nicely with don rogelio who has beena farmworker for 47 years. can you tell us, don rogelio,what you believe is the legacy of cesar chavez and how you areable to promote it and further it in your work. rogelio lona:okay.

my native language isspanish but i want to try to speak english. i want to start with briefly ofmy story when i know and i hear cesar chavez. i was born in mexicoon guanajuato. when i was young imoved to mexico city. i went to school. but my family was a family ofsix and my father can't support our family alone.

in our culture, our culturein mexico is the oldest son, or sometimes daughter, needsto help to support the family. and my father was a carpenterand he has many forms to make, to make money for our life, buton that time was very hard for living and no work. he didn't find work. and he came to unitedstates in order he was ai beras saro for long time.

and when i finish my elementaryschool in batova high school, i have to come here with him tohelp in order to feed our five brothers because we area family of six brothers. then i was 15 or 16 yearsold and i came to the fields to work. i didn't know anythingabout the fields. when i work on the strawberries,i sometimes i take off the plant of the strawberries against aweed and i didn't know nothing about that and itwas very hard for me.

and i work a lot of da toreteet to ma ho [phonetic]. i worker for a myto doing this job. then i remember on close to'72, in the '70s i was working picking strawberries whenwe hear cesar chavez came from sacramento. in that place of my workeverybody stopped and was like a hope for us becausewe work very hard. we work 17 years, we live on thefields and we work on the mat, it was very helpful to us.

and i remember when i hear cesarchavez everybody stop and our boss tell us we're gonna raiseyou 25 cents per hour more. i remember i make85-cents per hour. and but we don't accept that andthe farmer closed the doors and we went to any place to work. on '81 i came to mulhollandhills and i work in mushroom factory and we hear again oncesar chavez came in a ranch near from there and we callhim and he make a strike for 96 days.

since that time any time iremember cesar chevez i learned something from himmany, many things. i don't work side byside with him, but we, continuously we met withhim and we receive a lot of experience from him. and after that, i am stillworking with united farm workers all the time on march, on neg gra said dea [phonetic]contacts to make a vote for the political parties for our laws.

we went to sacramento oncalifornia for marches and ma heel lee as. and i tried to helpthe other people. and on the last times we comefor to -- we came to washington, i came, i come four timesfor, asking for odd jobs. and that is why iremember cesar chavez. and for me cesar chavez is myhero and i remember many, many, many things of him. i even have a lot of remembers.

for example, when we have acontact we make a meeting, a general meeting and we invitehim and he told us, remember, fight all the time, comma roncas ay y emris commarear ra na men tai [phonetic]. that's the words i rememberfrom him in many things. another time i was, we nag grow sad desr and we make like a strikeagain for six months, for six months on myplace and my committee,

my committee when he came, wewas resting and balling and he said you never gonna winlike this, hey, get up, come to work and we start toorganize again and we win that time again. and i tried to doeverything to help others, but with a guy of cesarchavez that i learned of him, that's what can i tell you. viviana hurtado:thank you, don rogelio. and just to be clear, kamarone que essay wes say mer day sal lo

yeah na la coreyen tai [phonetic], basically means if you snooze,you lose -- (laughter) -- which is pretty appropriate forour champions of change who have worked very hard. and mary jo, if you can reflecton how the legacy of cesar chavez continues inthe work that you do. mary jo dudley:thank you. i was very fortunate to havebeen part of a television program, we did a publicaccess television program and i

interviewed cesar many yearsago and what was really amazing about that was that in talkingwith him he had things to say but he also reallywanted to engage me. i was a young, you know,i didn't know a lot, i was young but i had energyand i was interested in him. and he said, well,what do you think? you know, he was telling hisstory but he was also asking, well, what do you think? what do you think should happen?

and so that engagement ofdifferent people from different walks of life, ofdifferent ages, i think, has been a criticalpiece for me. and also how one approaches it. and so, really,okay, can we do this? he said, puede, si, se puede. you know, building around,yes, we can, yes, we can. and i think i'm very fortunateto be in a university environment where we, thereis opportunity for students to

engage with farmworkers and goto farms and talk with people and learn about them. and i'm honored to, i'm pleasedto accept this honor but i really want to keep in people'sminds that it's not about me; it's about the farmworkers and iwant people to have this picture when they got theapple off the shelve. and also when they drink theirmilk i want them to have this picture in their mind. and that's one of the thingsthat the students are excellent

about doing. you know, how do youput a different image in people's minds. you wouldn't have thatapple unless someone was working on that. and so i think engagingyoung people in the lives of farmworkers and farmworkers inthe lives of our students has been a tremendous opportunityfor me to see that happening. and i brought a picture becauseit's the students who go out and

teach the english classes andthe farmworkers who take their day off to learn english. and it goes far beyond theenglish classes itself. it has to do with about breakingthe social and geographic isolation that many of theworkers in our state experience. and also just sort of walkingpeople through things that they can do to preparethemselves for an emergency. and we live in a state where thevast majority of the farmworkers are improperly documented.

and so every day people don'tthink about new york state as a border state, but weare a border state. we have the border patrolalong the canadian border, around lake ontario, and soevery day when people make that decision forunauthorized people, if they make that decision towalk out of their house to go buy milk for theirkids, there's a risk. and so i think that really forme it's really important to make that visible that when you lookat the apple this is not only a

person who works long,hard hours in very physically-demanding work, butsometimes these people have that extra stress ofbeing unauthorized. and so engaging students inthis program has been critical because it's a multiplier effectand students have tremendous energy and i really believe thatwe need to have this be an issue for our youth forthe next generation. and so i think in accepting thishonor i really want to make it clear that it's only possiblebecause the farmworkers open

their homes to us. and to remember wherethat comes from. and to keep also in our mindswhen we look at a difficult issue can we look at itand say si, se puede, that's one thing i think thatreally sticks with me every day. viviana hurtado:mary jo, it's a multiplier effect, and indeed it is. i'd like to see if elvira diazcan talk to us about the legacy of cesar chavez in her work.

elvira diaz:i am an immigrant so i was not very familiar with thehistory of the united states. when i came here i hadthe opportunity to have, i went to catholic school,i went to nun's school, girls school, soi immigrate here. and then i went to learn englishand the nuns they help me, they teach me to do volunteerwork so the only place i can volunteer was atthe catholic church. i become a religious teacher.

and i already went to all themasses i went all to my life to that but i just havethe passion to help. so i remember in 1992, i wasteaching at the first communion class, i have 40 students, atthat time i have a little girl, she was seven years old, andi remember nobody was paying attention to me,something was wrong, something was inthe air so weird. so i remember asking thestudents, what's wrong? at that time bill wilson wasgoing to put up proposition 187

and i remember we reach out tothe pastor and to other people to help me. nobody listen to me. i was kind of young. so you know what i did, i had40 students so i make 40 phone calls and i told the studentslet's meet at the most busy street in huntingtonbeach, beach boulevard, so we can have signs andwe have "no 187" sign. my surprise, i have 200students in the street.

no parents. i was the only adult there. i was the only one who has thepermission to be in the streets to do that. so that makes me tied to cesarchavez that you can start something very small and justhave the courage and just doing that. and i remember my little girl,now she his 22, screaming si, se puede and no 187.

and that propositiondidn't pass. and today we are stillfighting for the dream act. today as i am sitting here todaymy organization where i work six dreamers are inreno, nevada today. they're walking for sanfrancisco to the sea. they're walking becausethey want to have documents. so from 1992 until today i'mstill fighting but i'm not going to give up. i have another, after 15 yearsi have another little kid.

christian. christian now isseven years old. and i remember in 2006 when wehad the famous marches on may 1st, we have in carson cityabout 2,000, 2,000 people. the first word that my littlekid learned in his life was si, se puede. so it's like, you know, we needto keep working together and put the views together. two weeks ago i had theopportunity to walk the

montgomery to selma. he asked me to walk,you know, so many miles. so i say, okay, i am goingto join in the middle of the, you know, the week. they start from monday,they finish on friday. i said i don't think iwould be able to walk. and i was on wednesday walkingand guess who i find in the middle of the walking? delores juarta.

i say, are you delores juarta? she said, yes. so i walk with herand i grab her. and the last day of the march,because we're like several days, they just told me because i amorganizer they just told me you join those people andwe'll pick you up later. and i walk with al sharpton,and with, you know, so my idea istogether we can do it. one thing that we need to dobesides marching and besides

saying si, se puede, we needto register people to vote right now. register people to vote. our power, ourpower is our vote. one of the things thati have been working on, that's probably why i gotnominated by families usa was the health reform. february 2nd of last year justjasmine ajala had pneumonia with her friend.

jasmine didn't havehealth insurance. she pass away. so since she pass away theycall me and she told me, the mom told me she die inbetween hospitals because she was, you know, don'thave documents, she didn't have medicare. so i am really, reallyfighting right now for the health care reform. so together we need to do it.

we need really to participate. doesn't matter what party youbelong but please register people to vote and vote in theprimaries so that people that you like get elected and govote again in the final ones in november. so voting is our boat. young people, please, that'swhat i am asking you, the si, se puede is in your vote. so please vote and vote for theissues that affects your family.

the affect, we need to reallyhave documents for these 12 million people whodoesn't have documents, for these farmers thatdon't have documents, for jasmine that didn't haveaccess to health care and she already die. she is 11 years old. i am sure she iswatching me in heaven. so we need to keep fighting andworking together and like cesar chavez mentioned, you mentionedthat he say you need to look for

somebody who can help you. you cannot do by yourself,knock doors and ask somebody to help you. and si, se puede! we can do it! thank you so much. viviana hurtado:it doesn't matter what party your belong to, said elvira,just register to vote. and can i please get asi, se puede after that?

si, se puede; si,se puede; si, se puede. (chanting) viviana hurtado:and we're going to gonow to the twitter verse or the cyberspace which isjust really engaged with what's happening today. very quickly i just want tothank partners today: nclr being latino hispanicize; foxnews latino; vote to latino; the proposed nationallatino museum; and the latino bloggers connectwho are vibrantly amplifying

what is happening in this room. we go to jose torres fromsan francisco, california, who asks what will it taketo achieve cesar's dream of farmworkers across this countryhaving the same rights and protections as otherworking people? i don't know, rob, if youwould like to take a stab. rob williams:well, i suppose the first answer is organizing on anationwide, massive scale. but when you think about it, imean, still after the, you know,

70 years after the new dealfarmworkers are not covered by the national laborrelations act, are not covered by overtimeprovisions of the fair labor standards act. as i have said in manystates they're not covered by workers' compensation. so one thing we need is weneed to elect legislators and congress people that are goingto correct this inequity. the other thing, ofcourse, it comes back,

it comes back to the wholequestion of immigration reform. even if farmworkershave rights on paper, it's very difficult to enforcethose rights if you're afraid if you know the employer couldreport you and somebody can report you to theimmigration service. and so part of it iswe have got to change, we have got to get people thatbasic legal status as one of the first steps. viviana hurtado:thank you, rob.

and don rogelio, iwould like to ask you, because you have been workingas a farmworker for 47 years, if you could tell us what youbelieve it's going to take to achieve cesar's dream offarmworkers across this country having the same rightsand protections as other working people? (speaking spanish) rogelio lona:i think we have to work, to work together to keeporganized more people because

the dream of cesar was that wehave to organize ourselves and administrate ourcontract ourselves. and when he found theunion, united farm workers, was for the same peopleadministrate the contract. and i think we haveto keep working. this never, never endthe fight never end. we have to keep organized tokeep voting for our people, people to help the compesinos,the people who needs to make a change.

and we have to enforce, we havea lot of laws in california or in i think in another countries,too, we work hard for delos, for drinking water on thefields and everything, but we have to work hard toenforce those laws because we have many laws. the united farm workers is moreunion but it's the union to want more laws on californiaand the whole country, but we have to workfor enforce those laws. because it's not sense if wewant something and we don't have

benefits of that. this part i think to still tokeep working and i think that the fight that chavezbegin this never end. because -- viviana hurtado:thank you, don rogelio, i don't want to be disrespectfuland cut you off but we only have a couple more minutes. one more question fromcyberspace comes from madre bamo.

she asks how do we by ourcontinued activism around the passage of a national dream act? and i'd like to see who wouldlike to take a stab at that. and if we could keep it briefand maybe get one more person to answer, that would be awesome. elvira diaz:that would be nice. dreamers are start being out,and talking to your friends, a lot of one-on-ones. recharge your churchcommunity, your neighbors,

go to your schools,go to your teachers. don't be shy. there's a lot of rumorsgoing out already so reach out to them. and if you're afraidto just coming out, just you can tweet them and youcan promote them so that way the information of thedream gets across. so people see us atthe very injustice. also try to do lobbiesso your legislatures.

legislatures are very important. so try really, and again, raisethe people to vote and vote first to the way we have enoughvotes to pass the dream act. viviana hurtado:thank you, elvira. bernie? bernie wong:i just want to say toboth the first and second questions it is reallyimportant to educate. and i guess i am kind of in aminority here because so much of this issue is aroundlatino, you know, beauty,

but there needs to be a lotof education beyond that, to the asian communityto the, you know, the caucasian community. i think i am a little ashamedto say that, you know, that for our community this isnot as well known even though we as an agency we do work on italong with the latino and other organizations. but i think education isreally, really important, especially with ayounger population.

viviana hurtado:and mary jo, very quickly, is there anything you wouldlike to add on either of these questions? mary jo dudley:well, i think it'simportant to just from the dream act to work in whateverarena you can work in. our dreamers at cornelluniversity actually got the president of the university tomake a very strong statement in support of the passageof the dream act. and for him to advocateamong his colleagues,

presidents of university,and so he has been working on the dream act. and so i think whateverarena you can work in, we need to work. but i think theother piece of it, and it ties back to the farmworker issue is, we find many, many families, farmworkerfamilies in which the parents and the children havedifferential status. so u.s. born childrenwith undocumented parents.

this is very, very common. and what happens, whenthe parents are picked up, what happens to the kids, and tomake that clear to the public is a critical piece for thedream act, for farmworkers, for the well being of theimmigrant community which our economy relies on. and to make that picture cleari think is a critical piece of getting comprehensiveimmigration reform passed. and we each have a role in that.

vivian hurtado:thank you, elvira diaz,mary jo dudley, rogelio lona, rob william, andbernie wong for the continued work and sacrifice you do andfor embodying the legacy of cesar chavez beingchampions of change. america fererra:and thank you, viviana, for being here today tomoderate that wonderful panel. once again elvira, rogelio,bernardo, rob, and mary jo, thank you. mary jo, i want to say sorry forleaving out your intro before.

but i would like to say i hadthe pleasure of meeting some of your students who graduated fromcornell at an event a few weeks ago and they were working togive microloans to immigrants so that they could own their ownplots of land in upstate new york and the work was inspiring. so thank you forwhat you are doing. one more round of applause,please, for that first panel. and i would also liketo take a moment to thank everyone who is watching online.

we are live streaming thisso anyone who is watching, and we thank you for beingengaged and we thank you for listening to this conversationthat is such an important and critical conversation for usto be having as a nation at this moment. and now i'd like tointroduce all the members of our second panel. we will begin withreverend eve nunez. is the founder andpresident of help for kids.

a national partner with the usdepartment of agriculture in phoenix, arizona. help for kids serves as a snapsatellite providing food boxes for homeless familiesin the arizona valley. help for kids servedapproximately 1,680 meals per week last summerfor the first lady's let's move initiative. the help for kids hud officealso provides services where clients can apply forand participate in rental

assistance, first timehome buyers program, foreclosure prevention,and loan modifications. nita gonzales of denver,colorado is a noted community activist, educator, andnationally recognized leader in the struggle, in the strugglefor social justice and equality. nita is the president ceo of --i am going to try it pronounce this correctly --escuela tlatelolco. how did i do? nita gonzales:very good.

america fererra:good. escuela tlatelolcocentro de estudios. a nationally recognizedmodel for chicano, mexicana, and indigenous education. she is a founder of the chicano,mexicana education coalition, the denver youth employmentand education task force. and co-founder of thecolorado latino forum. melinda wiggins,for over 15 years, melinda has served as theexecutive director of student

action with farm workers. a non profit whose mission is tobring students and farm workers together to learn about eachothers lives, share resources, and skills, improveconditions for farm workers, and build diverse coalitionsworking for social change. during her tenure at saf, shehas worked to impact over 600 young people and countlesssupporters, partners, and allies through mentorshipand community engagement. rose garcia is the executivedirector of tierra del sol

housing corporation, a newmexico non profit corporation and a leading regionalaffordable housing and community development organization. rose has worked for over 30years to improve the quality of life for the rural poorminorities, farm workers, and the elderly in small townsand rural areas along the united states mexico border. she works closely with partnersin both the public and private sectors to deliver services andmeet the needs of people of new

mexico and the southwest. nancy m. cubano is anative of puerto rico. prior to coming to kipp, theknowledge is power program, a network of public charterschools in philadelphia, nancy taught for 13 years as aspanish teacher in harrisburg and in gettysburg, where shebecame passionate about her community and herrole as a teacher. nancy's goal and big projectis to see her chavez advisory students make it toand through college.

our panelists forour second panel. and now it is mypleasure to introduce our moderator for the second panel. he is one of the obamaadministration's shining stars and he happens to comefrom the latino community. secretary of the interior, kensalazar is leading a national effort to recognize thecontributions of latinos to the history of america,including cesar chavez. salazar's own family historybegan in the american west,

before the unitedstates was a country. after settling in newmexico four centuries ago, his family plantedroots in colorado's, san luis valley where they havefarmed and ranched the same land for five generations. raised on a remote ranch withoutelectricity or telephone, salazar learned the values ofhard work, family, and faith. thanks to his parents' lessons,he and his seven brothers and sisters all became firstgeneration college graduates.

join me in welcoming to thestage the 50th secretary of the department of the interior,secretary ken salazar. ken salazar:thank you very much, america, for that kind introductionand for these great panelists. you honor us and you are agreat role model for so many young people. in fact, on my way overhere, to this meeting, my security detail was talkingabout how they and their children have watched youand they are so excited about

what you do. so let's give her around of applause, because she is a championof change as well. and let me just givea quick shout out to all of the honorees here. not only this panel,but the one from before. elvira diaz, eve nunez, maryjo dudley, rob williams, nita gonzales, rogelio lona,bernarda wong, melinda wiggins, rose garcia, and nancy cubano.

they are some of the very bestof the best that we have in the united states of america. so give them allaround of applause. we have some specialguests that will be joining us very soon and so we are goingto have to keep this panel relatively short. and we'll end it at about three. so i want to hear from the paneland i will go join them in just a minute.

but i thought what i would do ismake some opening comments here just about what the presidenthas directed his cabinet to do relative to aninclusive america, because it is so important forus to make sure that as we move forward, as the demographicsof america continue to change, as diversity becomes so much apart of the foundation for the greatness of thisnation in the future, that we are making sure that weare inclusive of everybody so that no one gets left behind.

so as a secretaryof the interior, i have the great honor ofserving this president of the united states,president barack obama, as we have moved forward intrying to change the world in a lot of different ways. but in my own lane and one ofthe things that i have the honor of doing is being the custodianof america's natural resources and natural heritage. that means yes, i am responsiblefor everything that is happening

in our oceans and our 700million acres of onshore lands and dealing with oil andgas and renewable energy, and our national parks,our wildlife refugees, all of those thingsthat are so important. but as part ofthat mission, yes, custodian of natural resources,but also custodians of america's history and heritage. and so it is in that vain, thati am very proud to say that the work that we have done thereis to recognize that we have so

much more work to do. and our work reallyis just beginning. but i will give you an examplein the african american world which is very much a part of ourworld and very much a part of the civil rights struggle ofamerica and our march towards a more perfect union. this president moved forwardwith the creation of the 396 national park at fort monroe,which was the beginning and the end of slavery in america andthe crucible for the thinking of

abraham lincoln in theemancipation proclamation. and this president has movedforward and we have now for the first time in history,the martin luther king, jr. memorial on the nationalmall right between the lincoln and the jefferson memorial. and we are doing it ina lot of other ways, from ebenezer chapel to thework that we do all around the country to make sure thatwe recognize that part of our history.

in addition, it is not justabout african americans, it is also about thejapanese americans, and the internment camps. just in the last week, wehonored twelve of those internment camps withsignificant investments so that we don't forget what happenedto japanese american citizens during that time in the 1940's,where we basically took them from their home and took theirliberties away and placed them internment camps right here inthe midst of our own country.

and we have gone beyondjapanese americans. it is really also about thecelebration and telling the story of women and theircontribution to this country. because those storieshave not been told. today only four percent ofall of the national historic landmarks and those are historiclandmarks which essentially mean that they are the highest levelof recognition that you can give historically from the unitedstates of america under the authority of thesecretary of interior.

only four percent of all ofthose that have been created in history, recognize thecontributions of women, african americans,latinos, native americans, and so on and so forth. so that statistic alone tellsyou how much more work that we have to do. which brings me to thecontributions of the latino community. yes, as america said, inher introduction of me, yes,

my family along with nita'sfamily, and so many of you here, we have been around in thiscountry and in these united states for a long time. even before the spanish came,because many of us are very proudly native american as well. and in the case of my family,in northern new mexico, i love to remind people of thefact that we settled the city of santa fe, in (inaudible)mexico, the city of holy faith. and we were there for 250 yearsbefore the treaty of guadalupe

hidalgo was signed in 1848. and so when the treaty wassigned and article ten of the treaty said, well, if youare a resident now of these southwestern places which nowwill become part of the united states, you have an option. you can go move across the newlyformed border or you can stay where you have beenstaying and become part of, of the united states of america. and if you do so, then yourrights and your history and your

heritage and your lands andyour culture will be protected. well, you know, i always like toremind people that we are part of either the spanishsovereignty or the mexican sovereignty in the southwest for250 years before we became part and yet much of that historyhas not yet been told. and as many of you have heardand some of the speeches that you may have listenedto me before, when i was going to school. i still remember andin the san luis valley,

where i would look out thesangre de cristo mountains to the east and the san juanmountains to the west. and the san antonio river thatruns through part of our ranch. and we were still being taughtthat my family had come across on the mayflower that we hadbeen a part of the founding of plymouth rock and thatwe got from east to west. so that is just a long way oftelling you all here again, that we have so much more to doin terms of telling the story of latinos and latinas throughoutthe united states of america.

so in the departmentof interior, what we have done is movedforward with the founding of the latino heritage initiative,which will by june -- (applause) -- of this year -- (applause)by june of this year, we will be able to announce theconclusion of essentially what will be the blueprintof the story of latinos. so then that will guide thenational park service long after i am gone, but it will make surethat we are telling the story of the farm workers ofimmigration, of economics,

of the military contributions oflatinos, and so on and so forth. 16 different chaptersin that study. we'll have that doneby june of this year. that then will guide us interms of making sure that we are telling the whole story of thecontribution of american latinos and latinas. but we don't want to wait forthat study to come by our way and so just last year, i had thegreat honor of standing with the chavez family at the40-acre site in california,

where we said this place wherecesar chavez fasted for all of those days in the 1970'sand the 1960's, 1968, the longest of his fast, beforerobert kennedy and ethel kennedy visited him. and he broke his fast. that that place is a place thathas a very important role in our history and that that placeshould be a national historic landmark and we made it so. and i am very proud ofthe fact that we did it.

you under this president, you also will be hearing a lotmore about some of our efforts in terms of the recognitionand the contribution of latinos throughout the unitedstates of america. and i would just say thisbecause i know him very well. i spent two days with him lastweek in nevada and new mexico and oklahoma. he believes in his heart whatyou all believe in your heart. and that is that a, ourcontinuing march towards a more

perfect union means thateverybody has to be a part of that march and that the latinocommunity is very much a part of that march. so i am very proud to be here. to be here with the honoreestoday and to be able to moderate this panel. so with that, i guess icould go sit down there. but i think it is better if ijust stand out here and look at the uniqueness of our panelists.

or am i supposed to go there? speaker:you are supposed to sit down. secretary ken salazar:can i stand? okay. so how many of you thinkcesar chavez is a big deal? (applause) you know,earlier this week, at the department of labor, oneof the nation's wisest latinos, hilda solis, oursecretary of labor, named the big hall in thedepartment of labor in the honor

of cesar chavez. so it now bears hisname as a leader who, whose life is now recognizedthere in the department of labor. and as we were there, it wasvery obvious with dolores huerta and the family and others, thathe contributed so much to what we are today. and the opportunitiesthat we all have. so i think the question that iwould ask the panel and let us

remember, that you -- we areactually live on facebook here and other video. and so that the question, thisfirst question which came in from facebook is this:what does the chavez, cesar chavez's legacymean to you today? and how does your workrelate to that legacy? so let us take a couple ofminutes and say a little bit about yourself andrespond to that question. and why don't we start here withyou rose and then we'll go down

to nita and on down the row. so start off with you, rose. give rose anotherround of applause. she is a true championfor all of the great work that she has done. rose garcia:thank you, senator. you were a senator, butyou are a secretary. secretary ken salazar:once a senator,always a senator. rose garcia:same thing.

yes. thank you very much for invitingme to this wonderful event and also for the recognition of, ofmy work which represents many of the people that are leaders inmy community that inspired the work that i am doing andhave devoted most of my life. and in answer to your question,i think the -- what means, cesar chavez's work means to metoday is to continue the work of what tierra del sol housingcorporation is doing in new mexico in west texas withfarm workers in converting the

volunteer labor that farmworkers are willing to do. because they know howto toil in the fields, with low pay and much distress. and also building theirown homes for self help, through self help housing. and i think that thecontinuation of the leadership in the communityin the southwest, and the relationship that we hadwith cesar chavez while he was alive, made a lot of goodchanges in our community with

field standards that wereimproved as well as the abolishment ofthe short hoe and, and on and on every yearthat he came into new mexico. we identify many of theimprovements that are in our communities today. secretary ken salazar:thank you very much, rose. so for new mexico and texas,great places with great latino communities and greatleaders like rose, give her a round of applause.

nita gonzales from colorado. i have this -- i was goingto write this, it says, nita 93 because iwas her campaign -- nita gonzales:stop it. ken salazar:-- chairman when she ranfor the school board back in 1993 so -- (laughter)(applause) anyway, nita, what is your responseto the question? and tell us a littlebit about you. nita gonzales:well, first of all,

i want to thank you for thishonor and also just to recognize that i sit here because of myfather, rodolfo corky gonzales. we are a family of eight. an activist family. i grew up as an activist familyand learning the history quite frankly, ken, as you wellknow from the mother earth, from here out, not fromthe east in, in my house. so and that i wanted to sharewith you, that the work we do, which was really includedin the introduction,

escuela tlatelolco is the motherof school reform in choice. seven parents out of the crusadefor justice were bold enough, were bold enough to start theirown school when denver public schools would not meet theneeds of our youngsters and our children weren'tsucceeding academically. so here we are 41 years later,serving pre k through 12, a very different model. most of your modelsare separated out. pre k through 12 as familialin a school with 401 of

our graduates. and of those graduates,72 percent have their bachelors degree. 32 percent own theirown businesses. and 22 percent have theirgraduate degrees and never once forgot where they came from andare still activists in their community today. that is the job of education. not only to give you --(applause) -- and so i sit here

because of rodolfo corkygonzales and my mother. i mean, i have to mention her. she lives in my household. there is eight of us and mydad had to come screaming and kicking to feminismsince he had six, six girls. and two sons. and because of the legacy ofcesar chavez and helen chavez. cesar could not do whathe did, i understand that, without helenbeing part of that.

(applause) so, so that legacyfor me has always been about that yes, we can. i never think about -- do youever go into meetings where people say, well, we can't dothat because of this or the budget, or where is the money? i never start ameeting that way. i say, what do we want to do? and let's figureout how to do it. and while i agree thatwe have to get our, our,

our youngsters educatedand prepared to vote. they need to know why theyvote and they need to hold politicians accountable tomeet the agenda that is a people's agenda. that is a legacyof cesar chavez for me. and i really amhonored to be here. and i am honored to be in, alongwith the other nine champions here with you. i am just so humbled by allof the work that you do.

secretary ken salazar:thank you, nita. nancy cubano. the puerto rican population ofour nation and the puerto rico is just an importantpart of your history -- nancy cubano:yes, it is. secretary ken salazar:-- and it is often a forgotten part of the history of america. but i think some four millionpopulation on the island and probably even more of agreater population even in

the united states. so tell us what is your answerto the question and a little bit about you. nancy cubano:sure. i am going to start byanswering you know the little bit about me. but first like nitaand everybody here, i am honored to be here. around you know all of you.

so i a little bit about myself. i came from a family ofwhere there was no "if." you are going to go to college. there was no thinking about it. it was just you knew youwere going to go to college. my grandmother didand my parents did. and everybody in my family did. when i came here tothe united states, i saw the need of latinoswanting to go to college.

to me, it was like why is ityou are thinking about it? or you don't think about it, youjust, you have to go to college. and now i am working at a schoolwhere that is their sole purpose just like cesar chavez waswanting to just community, knowledge is power. that is exactly what i amtrying to do with my students. and our advisory,something we call in kipp, is more than a homeroom. this homeroom is 15 kids thatare with me from 10th grade all

the way through, you knowuntil they graduate as seniors in high school. so i am like their mom. i just don't have one kid athome, i have 15 at school. and kipp gives us a cell phone. so those kids canactually call us. so there is no excuse. there is no "if." there is no excuses.

so that is one thing. and two years ago when theprincipal called me and he told me, well, we need to picka name for each advisory. what do you think, what namewill be appropriate for your advisory? automatically, ithought of cesar chavez. who else? the core values, were justblended just perfectly with the core values of the school,leadership, community service.

and that is basically whati am trying to aim at for my students. for not just to go to college,to go through college and to give back to the community. so that is basically my goal. secretary ken salazar:thank you. thank you, nancy. nancy cubano:yup. secretary ken salazar:let me turn it over to eve,

help for kids. keep going. we want to hear from you. it is about the children. eve nunez:i am just overwhelmedtoday and i wanted to thank the chavez family,and i wanted to thank julie and christina, cesar and after allof the cesar chavez family and i know hunter who isin phoenix, arizona. i was recruited by cesarchavez when i was 17 years old.

and he came to a restaurantwhere i was at and started asking me about my life. and i told him my dad wasa migrant farm worker. and he says, do you know theyonly pay your dad a dollar an hour when they are payingeverybody else 225 an hour? and that made me mad. because my dad had17 kids at home. and he told me,what you, you know, that he had a small hoe andthat he was hurting his back.

and i said, that is true. so he recruited me wheni was only 17 years old. and i remember,cesar chavez told me, we need young people like you. we need you to help us passfliers and go to these grocery stores that are selling grapesand lettuce and people are buying it, but it ishurting our people. but he spoke his story to mewith such compassion that at that young age, that i saidi have to get behind this,

this man and do. so i called my momand i said, mom, i am going to go do hidalga. and she says, (speakingin a foreign language). i said, (speaking ina foreign language). i said, this man isgoing to help dad. dad won't have to work so hard. he is going togive him a big hoe. he won't have to you knowwork with that small hoe.

and mom, i will introduce himto dad and dad will like him because he is going to him. and so i introduced cesar chavezto my dad and that same day that i met cesar chavez i wentto boycott outside of a grocery store. and my first day outsideof a grocery store, i was passing fliers and tellingpeople not to buy lettuce or grapes either becausemy dad got paid less. one of the ladies that came upto me and that i told her not to

buy, was -- i am short,was shorter than me. she literally slapped mebecause i gave her a flier. i mean, this is in the 70's,when they would get away with that. but -- (laughter) -- theni passed out my fliers, and i wiped mymascara off my face, because they didn't havewaterproof mascara in those days. and i went back andi said, cesar,

this is what happened to me. and he says, (speakingin a foreign language). i said, well, they gave me a --(speaking in a foreign language). and he says, well, he saysthat is why god gave you two cheeks, mia. turn the other cheek. and i mean, instead of saying, you know beingcompassionate, i said okay. so i just wiped off myface, and i kept working.

but i learned from this manthe compassion that he had for people. and i want to thank the chavezfamily so much for letting your tata, letting him to usand giving us his vision. i had just become a christian. i wanted to become aminister and i said, god i want to do something big. i wanted to help somebody. and guess who walks into therestaurant i was working in

that day? (laughter) that was my first --(applause) -- that was my first volunteer job and wewent and did well. went to (inaudible), san luis,my sister gloria went with us. and so what we are doing todayis we are continuing the vision that he had tomentor young people. which i do throughhelp for kids. some of the laws in arizona aremaking it very difficult for me to continue what i do.

the senate bill 1070 which iopposed put a screeching halt to my ministry. i had fourteen buses where i waspicking up young people from the age of 18 under. that means 1,400or 1,500 people, young students i was picking upmost from immigrant families and refugees. i was picking them upto feed them every week. but when they signedthat bill in my state,

i could no longer do thatbecause we would become felons. so it put a screechinghalt to that. so what i am doing is i am doinga lot of voter registration, mentoring a lot of young people,and getting the right people in public office, because we needto vote out those people who are doing inhumane acts in my state. (applause) and i have to thankalejandro chavez who is not here but he helped me in my campaign. i ran for state senator and mydaughter hanna nunez who was

only 16 at the time,they worked really hard. we got 46 young people to helpus in arizona to get people registered, and i almost won. but i am going to run again. and we are goingto keep running. (applause) for a long time. secretary ken salazar:thank you, reverend. and let's turn it over tomelinda who continues to work with the ufw and the kids.

melinda wiggins:yes. but you can't call them kids. (laughter) well, igot started, well, i learned about cesarchavez when he died. the spring that cesar chavezdied is when i got involved with the farm workermovement, so 1993. i had just left my homeof mississippi delta, came to north carolina to goto divinity school at duke, and was studying theology andtrying to figure out what to do

with my life. knew i wanted to do somethingto give back to my community. and i ended up doing aninternship with student action with farm workers and themessages of cesar are part of what we teach in that work. both the messages andhow we do the work. but some of the messages thatreally resonated with me that i think chavez stood for, wasthis intersection between race, class, and culture.

and so that is really what wetry to do is look at issues of racisms in our communitiesin the south, farm workers. there is a lot of racism. the majority of folks aremexican and mexican american. but we still have a lot ofafrican american folks who work in the fields whose parentsand grandparents and great grandparents have worked inthe fields and who came here as slaves. so we have thislegacy in the south,

that we have to talk about,that we have to learn from, and that we have toteach young people about. he also talked aboutclass, about labor. for me it was very muchresonated for me growing up in a working class family in themississippi delta and in a very segregated community,these issues of race and class continued. i continued to strugglewith them and figure out. i wanted to learn.

and part of what we do isteaching young people about that intersection and what happens topeople when both race and class, when they are both impactedby both race and class. which we all are of course, nomatter if you are oppressed or privileged on those sides. and the last pieceis around culture. you know, this morning we wereat the usda and there was a mention of teatro campesino. and one of the things that wedo with student action with farm

workers is bringculture into the work. so helping young peopleparticularly tell their own stories. and that was the most powerfulpart for me in getting involved with student action with farmworkers is learning to tell my own story as a white woman fromthe mississippi delta who grew up in a very racist community. what is my storyin this movement? and part of it was, becauseof my work with saf,

i started asking questionsin my own family. and learned about my ownfamily's experience as share croppers. i learned that my dad had todrop out of school at 6th grade to work in the fields. they don't talk aboutthis, this history. so it, it really has takenme down this long path, this rabbit hole of learningabout my own history, and that is one of the thingsthat we do with young people.

majority of the young peoplewe work with are from farm worker families. so unlike me, they have workedin the fields themselves, their parents areworking in the fields. but part of what we dois help them to learn, to really learn about the largersocioeconomic political issues that impact their family. we help them to act. so do meaningful workin their communities.

through direct service,through educating workers about pesticide safety, throughorganizing in north carolina, supporting the farm labororganizing committee, another union to lift up, aswell as to advocate for changes in the law which weheard about earlier. we need to equalize thelaw for farm workers. it makes no sense other than ifwe want to continue to have a racist classes society to havefarm workers treated differently under the law.

so we try to provide thesemeaningful opportunities for young people to act, and thenthere is another part of it that i think chavez lifted up. is to reflect on that. so let's learn, let'sgo deep and learn. let's act and do something. and then let's reflect on whatdoes this mean for ourselves and share that with other people. so i have been really fortunateto be involved with saf.

we are celebrating20 years this year, and so we have had like 700young people who worked, we have worked with deeply fromacross the country who come to the south to learn particularlyabout what is the story of the south, around agricultureand labor and workers? and to do something for theirfamilies, for their communities. and i think one of the messagesthat we share with young people, that really is about cesarchavez's legacy is that we are in this for the long haul.

whenever at the beginningwe have summer internships, we bring 25 people togetherto work in the south with farm worker groups. and we always say, at theend of their internship, now is the beginning. right? because the idea is that this iswork that we will do as rogelio mentioned, it is -- it hastaken a long time to create this discrimination against farmworkers in our community.

it is going to take along time to change it. but we are trying to build amovement of young people who are knowledgeable, who arewilling to take a stand, and willing to go deepin their own story, to share that for the long haul. so -- (applause) -- long haul. secretary ken salazar:you know, melinda, on your closing commentthere on the long haul. the chavez family at one pointtold me about one of the cesar's

sayings which was not his,but it was his mother's. and it was his mom whotaught him this saying, and he would say, tenemosmas -- she would say to him, tenemos mas tiempo que vida. we have more time than life. and so yes, cesar'smother is passed away. saturday would be cesarchavez's 85th birthday, but here we are today at thewhite house with these ten champions of change.

and you just heard melinda speakabout how it is so important that we are in thisfor the long haul. and so with that, let me turnit over -- we'll have a quick answer for a -- wehave a little time? speaker:one more question. secretary ken salazar:one more question. we'll see. so here -- from jonathan kirsh. just to make surethat we are watching,

all of you who arewatching on line. we are clumping allof those questions, they are going tocome into all of us. and we are going to be able toanswer at least several of them. so this is from jonathankirsh and he asked the panel. how do you inspire young peopleto want to give to others in need to instill thatpassion for helping others? not through simple charity,or donating canned food to a shelter only.

but truly doing the workthat helps change lives for the better? who wants to go? eve? eve nunez:because i work with youngpeople and the way that we inspire them is bytelling them what is happening in arizona and some of our laws. we have a lot of young peoplein arizona that are committing suicide, that are dreamers.

in my, in my church there was ayoung man that was deported and his sister was so hurt, by thefact that that was her only family, that she literally atsix years old took her life. so when i tell storiesto young people and say, young people in our state aredying because we need a -- changes in our policy. we need you to get involved sowe tell the stories that become real to young people andhow it is effecting life. a young person should not haveto take their life because there

is no hope or they don't feelanybody is listening to them. but i say you can be thatvoice for your neighbor, you can be the voice forthe other young person, so i encourage them to comeand be that voice and speak together. and i do support the dream act. we need to make a way for themto stay and to work and they are great contributorsto our community. secretary ken salazar:thank you very much, eve.

(applause) nita. nancy cubano:well, you know,eve was very passionate, almost as much as i amwhen it comes to that. and i think education, a lot ofus think about education in the terms of testing and what doesstandardized testing tell you? well, at escuela tlatelolcothat is not what we are, we are -- we are concernedabout good human beings. human beings that learn aboutthe humanity and keeping their humanity.

learn about their history thatthey hadn't learned about. and when they get engaged inthat and know where they come from, then we also at escuelatlatelolco we have as part of the curriculum, oursocial justice curriculum. which requires them to beinvolved in the community. they don't graduate unless theyare involved in the community. they have to alsoidentify those issues. and then we say, okay, whatdo you want to do about it? i don't know, miss. es, you do.

you do know. are you angry enough about it? well, yes, i am,miss. ell, then, then if you are angry enoughabout it, let's take that, learn the strategies and skillsthat you need to organize, and let's organizearound making change. and that you can -- we haveto have young people believe absolutely they have thepower to make the change. but i am going have thiscaveat, i am going to tell you

culturally, we make changeas family and community. our young people arenot divorced from us. and so when young peoplewant to make change, we ask them to getstarted with their family. we bring whole familiesinto rallies, into meetings, into marches because that ishow we make change in the 60's and 70's. you know, things didn't happenin this country, all right, ken, because we have the greatestcabinet secretary of interior

member, or we havethe president obama. things happen andchanges in this country, because people come together. it is called people power. marching. women got the right tovote because they marched. we came out of vietnambecause this country marched. there is a -- there wasa civil rights movement, incredible civil rights movementthat helped all communities of

color believe that they couldhave one person, one vote, and have that opportunity --opportunity to make change. so young people get engaged whenit is personal to them and when they are upset. it is our responsibilityas familial, as adults in their life, tohelp move them into action. secretary ken salazar:all right. nita gonzales. so the inspirationof young people, rose.

rose garcia:yes. i would like toput them to work. i think that kidsare out there floundering. many of them not a lot to do. our parents aretoo busy with two, two families -- the motherand the father are working. and the kids don'thave anything to do. and many times people are verypoor and so they don't have any opportunities to go to college.

and so i really believe thatthis jobs bill and something in a project rebuild to put kidsinto construction and community service, service learning,even college students, that can connect withcommunity organizations, to put on projects, and so thatthey can work and be able to learn the value of,of their, their work. and their time. and also the mentors, i thinkmany of us are still around here, that are willing tocontinue to mentor them.

so i really encourage you topromote that while you are there in these years. secretary ken salazar:thank you, rose. let me ask melinda andnancy this question. that is, so we all have beenaround the issue of education and we talked about it asa key stone to our future. and we know 54 million latinosnow live in the united states of america and the importance ofus making sure that our young people are educated,graduating, not dropping out.

we have been dealing withthese issues for all of our lives up here. so let me ask melinda andnancy how to best respond. how best can which do thatthrough looking at people like cesar and dolores huertaand so many others? and how can we inspire them tomake sure that they stay on an educational pursuit? well, well, justlike i said before, at the school that i am at,at kipp, there is no if's.

i mean, the kids know thatonce they enter the school, it is to start, to finish, togo to college, to finish it, and to give to the community. i mean, but it is justalso being on top of them. and just as educators,just like nita said, not to teach to the test. we don't do that. you have to teach them abouttheir culture and let them know that they can do this.

it is doable. we are not asking you to, likei tell them in my classroom and they are watching, i am notasking you to build a rocket so we can go to the moon. but if you do, that is awesome. but i am asking yousomething that you can do it. you can go to college and finishand give to the community. but just like you were saying,when like sometimes my students when they go toms. cubano's room,

you know like christophercolumbus story doesn't sound the same in mrs. cubano's room. because for some reason, mrs.ubano comes up with letters that he gave to the queen andthe kids come out of my room, like really? and we have a date? you know, so itmakes them think. it makes them think. and that is what i am there forto put that seed and to tell

them like it isnot just educate. it is not just -- don'tjust take it for granted, because it is in that book. sometimes i have to like plantthat seed and let them know like, there is more to it. secretary ken salazar:nancy, let me ask you this follow-up question. dig a little deeper here. so the kids who are at kipp andwho have ms. cubano as their

teacher are very fortunate. nancy cubano:they are watching you. secretary ken salazar:because we know they are going to be very successful. secretary ken salazar:for all of those latinos who are not in ms. cubano's classroom,how can we get them into the position of the studentswho are in your classroom, so that they have thesame si, se puede, no is not an option.

you are going to get it done. how do you get to that,that other universal -- nancy cubano:just like you have heardfrom all, you know, from the panel thatbasically said it. advocate for yourself. don't just sit thereand do nothing. you have to move. and you know, like alot of my students, they see me and they are like,you are going to go to

white house? and i am like, yes. and you will see me there. i never thoughti would be there. never. secretary ken salazar:you want to wave to them? nancy cubano:oh, hi kipp. ms. cubano is here. so i told them, (speakingin a foreign language).

i am here. i never thought i could do it. and like yesterday, one of mystudents keanna, she was like, ms. cubano, i amso proud of you. but that makes me feel likeif you did it, i can do it. i mean, why not? and i am like, there you go. my job is done. you can go.

so she, she now realizes thatbecause ms. cubano did it, she can do it. but she has toadvocate for herself. she can't just becausems. ubano is helping me, it is going to happen. she has to do it by herself too. secretary ken salazar:okay. melinda, let me let youhave a crack at that. and i am getting somesignals from over here.

speaker:you can take aquestion from the audience. secretary ken salazar:no. let me ask melinda to respondto that and then we'll take one from the audience. go ahead, melinda. melinda wiggins:yeah. you know, one thing i wasthinking was i don't think there is anything wrongwith the young people. i think it is the -- there issystems, there is barriers,

there is obstacles thatwe put in place for them. so i think you know as if youare in a place of a teacher, of a mentor, we have gotto break down some of those barriers, because youngpeople want to be involved. and what i found is when folksare engaged in their community, they do better in their school. so if they are only goingto school and they are not connecting with a largercommunity and they are isolated from that, and they are isolatedfrom community engagement and

activism, they do better-- they do worse in school. so we have got to engagethem in the community. this week is national farmworker awareness week. as a part of every week duringwhen cesar chavez's birthday is we have a week of celebration. there are thousands of youngpeople all over the country that are celebrating this week today. tomorrow, raising awarenessin their communities. doing blood drives.

this is in collaboration withthe united farm workers and student action with farm workersand a lot of other partners that provide opportunities. it is peer to peer. young people talking to otheryoung people about how to get involved. so some of it is that. it is just having youngpeople share with each other, be peer mentors, peer supportfor each other to get involved

in their communities. so i think some of it is, thereisn't really -- young people are doing fine, they justneed opportunities. and one thing we always hearfrom young people is that they want connection toseasoned advocates. they want relationshipswith folks who have been doing the work. so one of the simple thingswe do is just try to make those connections.

have young people havelunch with the young person. talk to them aboutwhat you are doing. having them shadowyou for a day. taking them on outreach. they really are longingfor cesar chavezes. they are really looking forpeople in their community who will have the courage tospeak out against injustice. they want to see that. and they want to haverelationships with people who

are willing to do that. secretary ken salazar:thank you, melinda. (applause) all right. well, i have a bunchof more questions, but i think it would be best ifi called some people from the audience here. so let's go to theyoung woman in the back. and then we'll come to theyoung woman also over here in the white.

and then we'll take both ofthose questions and then we may actually take that young man'squestion over there and then we'll just have anopportunity -- right, make sure you keepthose in your head. and we'll have you respond. and that way we'll have a littlebit of audience interaction. go ahead. tell us your name. indra gomez:hi, my name is indra gomez.

and i am a young latino. first of all, i would like tothank all of the champions and the moderators and the cesarchavez family for allowing me to be here and also congratulationsfor being great role models, great examples for younglatinos like myself. i am currently a politics majorat the catholic university of america here in washington, d.c. and i hope to be on the sideof the policy making some day. it is not an "if."

it is a, i will do it. nancy cubano:great. indra gomez:my, i guess my questionis that as a young latino, i have always struggledwith the sense of identity and the sense of, i was bornin the united states, yes, but i come from a latino family. so am i mexican? am i american? what is american?

so i guess my question forthe panel in general is, how did you face that, thatchallenge of identity and how do you think that it is effectingthe young people that you are mentoring today and how doyou help them deal with that? secretary ken salazar:i think she is going to be president. tough. give her a round of applause. that is a great question.

let me quickly take thatand we'll take a couple more questions and we canget more people involved. young woman in thewhite and red beads. speaker:my name is -- (inaudible). i come from the siliconvalley, born in mexico. immigrated very young. a united states citizen andfeel very, very american. last week, i was in the siliconvalley in a panel discussion on immigration.

and there was some veryconservative people, there are some tea partiers. and they just came up to meand just said, well, you know, we are in fear, we are in fearthat you are taking over the country and your -- weare losing our freedoms. and i just for thatmoment, i thought, wow, they really are afraid. how do we deal with the fear oftrying to be a part of america but then there isthat resistance?

let me -- thank you, laura. and i had promised you i wouldtake this question and we have a very -- let's quicklytake this question. i want you all to talk. we are going to have anotheropportunity here in just so let's just takethis last question. king chant:hi there. my name is king chant and i amfrom long beach, california. and i wanted to thank you all,you all are very inspiring.

i also have to give a shout outto christine chavez for inviting me in the first place. so thank you very much. this truly meansthe world to me. i am a former highschool drop out. and so not many people wouldknow that narrative until i tell it to them. and my question is, due tothe political climate as it is today, do you believe a watereddown or so-called watered down

version of the dream act isacceptable or should we push forward with a fullyinclusive dream act from, from the 111th congress? all right. let me, we are going totake those questions under advisement, but we have aspecial guest that we get to introduce here. so let me first of all,ask you to give the panel a round of applause.

they were marvelous. your questions were very good. both on line andhere in the audience. and i also want to take thismoment as i introduce valerie jarrett who is the president'ssenior adviser and who is in so many ways the architect of hiscampaign and is the heart and soul really of so muchof what we do here. and i see that heart and soulin so many different ways in her standing up for an inclusiveamerica, no exceptions.

and what she does is being thechairperson of the president's council on women and girls,and everyday she is fighting for all of us. but i also see it in the namesof the people that the president and valerie oversee and thepeople that they work with here in this house, including peoplelike cecilia munoz the first chair of the domestic policycouncil ever in the white house who is latino appointed bythe president to serve in that position.

and i see it in julierodriquez from the white house who organized this event. and i see it in stephanievalencia and felicia escobar and lewis medandon [phonetic]and so many other people, because this president is abouthaving an inclusive america, and that means aninclusive white house. and one of the people who makesall of that happen every single day is my friend, thepresident's senior adviser, valerie jarrett.

senior adviservalerie jarrett: well,good afternoon everyone. we are just delightedto have you all here. thank you secretary salazar,although i really do get to call him ken since i have knownhim since our first year of law school. so we go way back. and i could tellyou all stories, but i won't do that right now. i also want to thank ourterrific panel and to

congratulate allof our champions. we all are here standing on theshoulders of others and we just are so proud of eachand every one of you. and the legacy of this veryimportant champion for change is near and dear toall of our hearts. and so i have the privilege ofintroducing to you not only the president of the united states,but someone who is at his heart a community organizer. please join me in welcomingpresident barack obama.

the president:hey, how are you? (applause) thank you so much. hello, everybody. everybody have a seat. audience:sã­, se puede! sã­, se puede! the president:sã­, se puede! the president:thank you so much. everybody please have a seat.

thank you so much for joining ushere in the white house and on line to celebrate one of ournation's great civil rights leaders cesar estrada chavez. we are especially grateful tohave some of his family members with us here today. and as we celebratecesar's 85th birthday, we are reminded that onlyin america could his story be possible. only in america could a migrantfarm worker rise to be a leader

of not just of his community,but a leader of his entire country. of course he didn't do it alone. he drew inspiration from figureslike gandhi and dr. king and other visionary leaderswho helped him develop his principles for non violence. more significantly, he wassupported by extraordinary people at the grass roots level. people who looked ordinary,but were actually extraordinary

because of their courageand their commitment and their dedication. many of you in this audience andthousands of people across the country, marched alongside ofhim in support of the la causa to ensure the dignity andrespect of people who put food on our tables. earlier this week,secretary hilda solis, inducted the pioneers of thefarm workers movement into the department of labor'shall of honor.

and last year, ken salazar,ken went over there. designated the 40acres site in delano, california as a nationalhistoric landmark, forever commemorating thebirth place of the united farm workers. so we continue tohonor cesar's legacy. today we honor ten leaders whoare building on that legacy from providing legal services tofarm workers and immigrants, to educating andempowering latino youth.

they are continuing his workin communities throughout the country. and, and, ultimately that is howchange happens through men and women making the choice tobe part of something larger than themselves. i want to read aquote from cesar. he said, "we cannot seekachievement for ourselves and forget about progress andprosperity for our community. our ambitions must bebroad enough to include the

aspirations and needs ofothers, for their sakes and for our own." i think that -- those aregood words to live by, and we are extraordinarilyproud of him. but more importantly, werecognize through days like today, that his spirit continuesto ripple and move our nation towards greater justice. so thank you so much. happy cesar chavez day.