SENATE RESOLUTION

                                                                  1993-8652

By Senator Pelz

         WHEREAS, Cesar Estrada Chavez devoted his life to goals we also serve:  Decent wages and treatment for workers, education for children, compassion for the needy, and equal justice for all; and

         WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez rose from poverty and oppression to become a symbol of dignity and humanity throughout the world; and

         WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez made the United Farm Workers into a union more than one hundred thousand members strong, and did more than anyone else to dramatize the hardship and improve the lives of America's farm workers; and

         WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez inspired more than seventeen million Americans to boycott the fruits of injustice until historic gains for farm workers were achieved; and

         WHEREAS, Cesar Chavez, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, rejected all violence and relied instead in the force of personal character, the strength of unity, and the power of truth to achieve his arms; and

         WHEREAS, The life of Cesar Chavez showed that any farm worker's child may contain a spark of greatness that deserves a chance to shine; and

         WHEREAS, The world lost a great-hearted soul and great champion of justice when Cesar Chavez died at the age of sixty-six on April 23, 1993;

         NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate honor the life and lament the death of Cesar Chavez; and

         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the family of Cesar Chavez and to the headquarters of the United Farm Workers of America.