Cesario Estrada Chavez and Dolores Huerta, alongside Larry Itliong, Gilbert Padilla and other organizers, were labor organizers who created the movement that is now the United Farm Workers of America. UFW to to this day continues to advocate on behalf of workers in agricultural industries, primarily in California. The UFW is the largest and most enduring farm worker’s union: they works toward a safe and just food supply in the United States of America.
The City of Lansing honored the legacy of Cesar Chavez at an annual event, this year celebrated at Cristo Rey church.
Speakers discussed what Chavez’s legacy means today, and made plans for the upcoming centennial celebration of his birth. If you enjoy health care, better wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and the ability to take time off, you do so by the efforts of labor unions.
A most poignant part of the event was the group singing a rendition of De Colores, the Spanish folk song that focuses on solidarity, social justice, and unity. Here are the lyrics:
De Colores
(Traditional- Mexican Folk Song)
De colores, de colores se visten los
campos en la primavera
De colores, de colores son los
parjaritos que vienen de afuera
De colores, de colores es el arco iris
que vemos lucir
Y por eso los grandes amores de
muchos colores me gustan a mi
Y por eso los grandes amores de
muchos colores me gustan a mi
Canta el gallo, canta el gallo con el
kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri
La gallina, la gallina con el kara kara
kara kara kara
Los polluelos, los polluelos con el pio
pio pio pio pi
Y por eso los grandes amores de
muchos colores me gustan a mi
Y por eso los grandes amores de
muchos colores me gustan a mi
ENGLISH: In Colors
(Traditional- Mexican Folk Song)
In colors, the fields drape
themselves in profusion of colors in
springtime.
In colors, in colors the young birds
arriving from afar
In colors, in colors the brilliant
rainbow we spy
And that’s why the great love of
infinite colors is pleasing to me
And that’s why the great love of
infinite colors is pleasing to me.
The rooster sings, the rooster sings
with a cockle doodle do
(kiri, kiri)
The hen, the hen with a cluck, cluck,
cluck
(kara, kara)
The baby chicks, the baby chicks
with a cheep, cheep, cheep
(pio, pio)
And that’s why the great love of
infinite colors is pleasing to me
And that’s why the great love of
infinite colors is pleasing to me
(translated by Abby F. Rivera 1/05)
Thanks to the City of Lansing for hosting this event and the speaker Arturo S. Rodriguez, former President of UFW.
Every year on March 31st is Cesar E. Chavez Day, as declared by the Michigan Legislature in 2004 to recognize his contribution by organizing farmworkers to campaign for safe and fair working conditions, reasonable wages, decent housing, and an outlawing of child laborers.
President Obama declared March 31 a U.S. federal commemorative holiday in 2014.
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