Sacrifices of King and Chavez Are Rare Today

By Willie Brown

This week we celebrate the lives of two iconic leaders who fought for civil and human rights: Mexican leader of the United Farm Workers Union, Cesar Chavez, and African American Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chavez was born on March 31, 1927. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

This is a history lesson about the mutual battles taken on by 2 selfless men— one Brown and one Black. Each demonstrated selfless service to humanity—a quality that I feel is sorely lacking in many of our leaders of today.

Although the two leaders never met in person, they admired and respected each other deeply, communicated by telegram, and praised each other publicly. They both fought against injustice and dehumanization through nonviolence and civil disobedience.

will be realized.”

In a 1990 speech, Chavez later noted the similar struggles of African Americans in the South to Latino farmworkers in the West.

In a 1966 telegram to Chavez, King said “You and your fellow workers have demonstrated your commitment to righting grievous wrongs forced upon exploited people. We are together with you in spirit and in determination that our dreams for a better tomorrow

“The same inhumanity displayed at Selma, in Birmingham, in so many of Dr. King’s battlegrounds, is displayed every day in the vineyards of California,” Chavez said. Both men struggled against grueling opposition from powerful politicians, big business, and even resistance from their own people. King was jailed, beaten and even stabbed, and labeled a Communist by his opponents.

During that time, Communism was considered the greatest threat to America.

King’s number one nemesis was J. Edgar Hoover, the then-head of the FBI. For Hoover, the attacks against King became personal. He became obsessed with the fact that a Black man could wield so much power, and began to do everything from digging up dirt on King’s personal life to allegedly ordering the hit that ended King’s life.

Chavez, successfully launched a boycott of table grapes in 1967 and went on a 25-day fast to protest injustice against farmworkers that literally made him and his cause famous. It was a “David vs. Goliath” battle. Again, King reached out, saying he was “deeply moved” by the labor leader’s “personal sacrifice for justice through nonviolence.”

The biggest obstacle for Chavez was California’s agribusiness, which didn’t take kindly to farmworkers unionizing. Another obstacle was the instability and powerlessness of farmworkers themselves. His struggles were made worse by an influx of foreign workers dead set on taking over jobs within the grape-growing industry.

One of the practical consequences of the United Farm Workers was the inability to establish roots in the communities in which they worked. Like some Black folks, they were resistant to rocking the boat. Being poor, they were heavily dependent on whatever jobs they could get no matter how dehumanizing.

The personal sacrifices made by each man, the willingness to look beyond race and unite for a cause greater than themselves is becoming more rare. I hope this is an encouragement to the up-and-coming young leaders of today. We’ve all heard the statement, “Together we stand. Divided we fall.” It’s going to take righteous indignation and moral commitment to overcome so much of the pandering and materialism that we see played out by our leaders today.

Let’s hope history will repeat itself by mimicking the positive efforts of Chavez and King.