Pedro Colon

For Immediate Release
March 31, 2010

For more information, contact:
Representative Colón (608) 267-7669

Honoring Cesar E. Chavez
Representative Colón Urges the State Assembly to Enact Assembly Bill 467

(Madison) - Assembly Bill 467 seeks to establish March 31st of each year as an optional state holiday in honor of Cesar E. Chavez. It will not cost the state any money to enact this legislation, since all state offices will remain open on this day and individuals must give up another holiday in lieu of taking off to observe Cesar E. Chavez day.

Representative Colón (D-Milwaukee) stated, “This bill is not only important to Latino families but it is important to all working families in the state, as Cesar E. Chavez dedicated his life to bettering the lives of working families. His struggles are our struggles and his examples of change through civic action, peace and hard work are his legacy and, indeed our legacy”.

When he died in 1993, he had never earned more than $6,000 in a year but he had bettered the lives of thousands of farm workers. In 1994, President Clinton posthumously awarded Chavez the Medal of Freedom. Two years later, California became the first state to create an optional state holiday in his honor. Then, in 1999 former Texas Governor George W. Bush signed a law recognizing March 31st as Cesar E. Chavez Day.

Through Cesar Chavez’s hard work and dedication, he single handedly changed how we view migrant labor. He successfully fought for better working conditions in the face of great adversity and he was able to do so peacefully.

“I urge the leadership of the Assembly to schedule the bill for a full vote in the State Assembly and to remember the legacy of this great man, by helping Wisconsin become the 11th state in the nation to bestow an optional holiday or a commemorative day honoring Cesar E. Chavez”, said Representative Colón.