No, it is not wrong to celebrate Cesar
Chavez Day!
By
Rodolfo F. Acuña
In my last blog I
made the point that it is becoming routine and even careless by venerating the
dead instead of remembering how they changed our lives. This year’s Martin
Luther King Holiday was a relief from what was becoming an excuse not to go to
school. The reason for this is that it was tied to the heroic changing of the
system by events such as Selma. It made me think what would our lives be
without sacrifices of the people who were clubbed, mauled and attacked by
ferocious dogs?
Similarly Cesar
Chavez could have lived a comfortable life.
He had a promising career as an organizer for the Community Service
Organization (CSO). Cesar sacrificed it all for a principle: promoting a life
with dignity for farmworkers and their families.
The same applies
to Christmas, what does it really mean? It is a day that we gorge ourselves with
hormone laden turkey, making graveyards out of our stomachs. As a child I
remember just wanting to get through the mass so I could rush home to unwrap my
gifts that had very little meaning other than they were new.
Americans
incessantly criticize Islam for being a fanatical religion, which is pure
hypocrisy. The American Bigot is the most fanatically religious person in the
world. He or she wallows in religion and acts pious. These same people have
historically gone to church on Sunday and segregated their neighbors on Monday.
I wonder how many
of them take seriously “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” If it had
meaning they wouldn’t be fighting health care and would be calling for a single
payer system like most advance countries enjoy. They would want quality and
equal education for all children. As in the Middle Ages they would recognize
that greed is a mortal sin and that money policies are usurious.
To preface this is
the biblical saying “'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among
your people,” I do not think many
Christians think about this when celebrating their mass. I do not think that
Netanyahu thinks of all people about being his brothers and sisters that he is
waging wars of extermination against.
How much different
is the hypocrite from the sinner? I
doubt whether he or she thinks about it while hanging his/her head in prayer
contemplating the bombing of a Planned Parenthood Center.
The only think
that I was asking for my last blog is for people to THINK! Look at David Bacon’s photos of farmworkers
and their families and pictures of deportees and THINK of what is to be done.
If you don’t THINK what value is there in going to church, going on a march
venerating the past?
Most Americans are
no different than Bull Connors or Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They hate whereas King
and Chavez loved. They weren’t perfect, but they we doing something unlike most
Americans who deny evolution or climate change.
We are not good
people because we feed the poor on one day a year and then say nothing about
taking away their food stamps.
If nothing else
holidays should be a day of THINKING and dedicated to changing society.
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