Nevada celebrates her first official statewide César Chávez Day on Wednesday, March 31, 2010.

Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas, delivered the keynote address last year. The passage shortly thereafter of his Assembly Bill 301 means that César Chávez's March 31 birthday will be proclaimed the first statewide Nevada César Chávez Day.

We are adding new features this year as we inaugurate the César Chávez Silver State Public Service Awards. Nominations are open for labor organizer of the year, employer of the year, humanitarian of the year and union project of the year. The first member of the Nevada César Chávez Hall of Fame will be installed.

Members of César Chávez's immediate family will again be in attendance, including his brother, Librado "Lee" Chávez. Nevadans who knew or worked with César Chávez will speak on their experiences. Federal, state and local officials are also expected.

Our community service beneficiary this year is Sierra Nevada Community Access Television. The Nevada César Chávez Committee is helping them raise funds toward a $ 40,000 matching foundation grant. We are sponsoring a student-level public service announcement production competition as part of the campaign.

Nevada students (elementary through college level) may compete for cash and prizes by producing a 60-second public service announcement on any public issue, whether about legendary labor leader César Chávez or not. Entrants should upload the work at their YouTube.com pages and send the URL to <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>. Entrants agree to accept the decisions of the judges as final.

Winning videos will be presented at the César Chávez celebration. The committee will also produce a SNCAT special program featuring the winners and best runners-up. Students who have a production already uploaded, even if longer than 60-seconds, are invited to enter. Entries are encouraged in either Spanish or English. Those produced in any other language should be submitted with a written translation.

Major sponsors this year include Laborers' Union Local 169, the Building & Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada/AFL-CIO and AT&T Nevada.

Doors to the Mandalay Ballroom open at 5:30 with dinner at 7:00 p.m. at Circus Circus-Reno. Easiest access is through the southwest corner of the hotel at Fifth and Sierra streets. The escalator downstairs to the convention center is just beyond the double doors.

Major sponsorships are available and bring considerable media exposure with them: Platinum ($7,000), Gold ($4,000), Silver ($1,500) and Bronze (Reserved table of 10) $500. See below or call (775) 882-TALK (882-8255) for more details.

MORE GOOD NEWS — Chávez Day is now statewide. Assemblymembers Ruben Kihuen and Moises Denis, both D-Las Vegas and both candidates for state senate, will inaugurate a new southern Nevada event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on March 31 at Big League Field of Dreams, 3151 E. Washington in Las Vegas. In addition to other candidates, the special guest will be world class boxing referee Joe Cortez. For details, e-mail Adriana Ybarra-Rojas at <sunflowers04@gmail.com>

¡Sí se puede!  Stay tuned.

César Chávez, Thurgood Marshall & Thomas Jefferson
Submit your nominations for the César Chávez Silver State Public Service Awards
Enter your video (for cash and/or prizes) in the public service announcement competition
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

César Chávez Day 2010:
Produce your own revolution
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 3-14-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Obama pays tribute to late Reno labor leader

THE WAY WE WERE — The above is a recently discovered photo from 1986. Left to right are Kathy Brown, Culinary Union Local 86 office manager; Miguel Contreras, Local 86 Secretary-Treasurer; Local 86 President Bill Uehlein; a lady named Natalie (anyone who knows her last name, please write), and César Chávez. This item was first published in Ahora, northern Nevada's Spanish-English weekly, on March 26, 2008. (UPDATE: On 3-19-2009, President Obama paid tribute to Brother Contreras as he spoke in the L.A. building named after the late labor leader. See the 1986 Chávez Reno archive, below.) (Photo courtesy of Dan Rusnak, retired business manager of Laborers' Union Local 169.) More stories and photos from César Chávez's 1986 Reno visit.

César Chávez Day will remind us
what we can become
Andrew Barbano Guest Editorial / Reno Gazette-Journal 3-21-2009

Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen introduces Nevada César Chávez Day bill
Testimony needed on AB 301

Governor Signs César Chávez Day Bill

SI SE PUEDE. Assemblymember Ruben Kihuen's, D-Las Vegas, César Chávez Day bill passed the senate 21-0 on May 12, 2009 and is on its way to the governor for signature. Well done, all!

Proyecto de ley pide designación de día de Cesar Chávez es presentado en la legislatura de Nevada.

2010 Sponsorship and ticket prices MAJOR SPONSORSHIPS PLATINUM: $ 7,000 Television spot schedule Reserved Table for 10 Major sponsorship mention on all media Logo and links at the bi-lingual César Chávez section at NevadaLabor.com Event onsite credit: Wall banner; distribution of literature and display table if needed; event program credit and recognition from the podium. GOLD: $ 4,000 Reserved Table for 10 Half of Platinum package spot schedule Logo and links at the bi-lingual César Chávez section at NevadaLabor.com Event onsite credit: Wall banner; distribution of literature and display table if needed; event program credit and recognition from the podium. SILVER: $1,500 Reserved Table for 10 Sponsorship credit on event program Logo and links at the bi-lingual César Chávez section at NevadaLabor.com BRONZE: Reserved Table for 10 Purchased on or before March 20: $ 500.00 Purchased March 28 or thereafter: $ 575.00 Individual Tickets Purchased on or before March 28: $ 50 per person, $ 75 per couple Thereafter or at the door: $ 55 per person, $ 85 per couple       Children under 12: $ 22.50 Seniors 65+ or students (with student i.d.)      Purchased on or before March 28: $ 35 per person, $ 60 per couple      March 28 or thereafter: $ 40 per person, $ 70 per couple      Please note that the incentive to buy a pair of tickets does not mean that the "second ticket" price applies to nos. 3, 4, 5 et al. For instance, if someone wants to buy four tickets for two couples on March 10, the price is $75 x 2 = $150.00.      If you cannot attend or send representatives, please consider purchasing tickets which we will donate with your compliments to students, seniors and those of limited resources.      Please make checks payable to           U-News           P.O. Box 10034           Reno, NV 89510 Or use PayPal online, below. Thanks for your consideration. In Solidarity, Andrew Barbano CesarChavezNevada.com NevadaLabor.com Barbwire.TV (775) 786-1455 Fax 747-0979

Use your credit or debit card through E-Bay's secure PayPal system   We reserve the right to turn down any sale or admission.

Major sponsors are donating portions of their ticket blocs so that area students may participate. Anyone planning to attend, even if your tickets are included in a sponsor or media package, should call for reservations which are required because of limited seating. Thanks for your patience.

César Chávez Celebration VIII
Brought to you by

Above: End slate from the award-winning LIUNA Local 169 road construction zone safety campaign, now in its second decade.

AT&T Nevada

Sierra Nevada Community Access Television

Sponsorship and ticket prices

The campaign for a César Chávez national holiday
Sign the petition

      César E. Chávez was born on March 31, 1927, on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona. At 10 years of age, he began life as a migrant farm worker. This ultimately led to his cause or "La Causa," advocating for better wages and working conditions for the nation's farm workers. In 1952, he began the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) to strive for equal rights for agricultural workers.
       César Chávez learned from and practiced the non-violent principles of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mohandas K. Gandhi. Chávez died on April 23, 1993, at the age of 66. He was posthumously awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative first class stamp bearing his image in 2003.

COUNTDOWN TO CHÁVEZ DAY

On March 10, 1968, Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-NY, and César Chávez met in Delano, California, for the breaking of Chavez's anti-violence fast. Chávez's physicians had contacted Kennedy to ask for his help in convincing Chávez to end his fast before it did more damage to his health.

On March 17, 1966, farm workers led by César Chávez began a march from Delano to Sacramento.

On March 31, 1927, César Chávez was born near Yuma, Ariz.

New York Times obituary, April 24, 1993: "Mr. Chávez, who was described by Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 as 'one of the heroic figures of our time,'was widely acknowledged to have done more to improve the lot of the migrant farm worker than anyone else. Fighting growers and shippers who for generations had defeated efforts to unionize field workers, and later fighting rival unionists, Mr. Chávez for the first time brought a degree of stability and security to the lives of some migrant workers. Largely because of him, the California Legislature in 1975 passed the nation's first collective bargaining act outside Hawaii for farm workers, who are largely excluded from Federal labor law coverage. 'For the first time,' Mr. Chávez said when asked to describe the union's achievement, 'the farm worker got some power.' Asked what had motivated his stubborn fight, he said, 'For many years I was a farm worker, a migratory worker, and, well, personally — and I'm being very frank — maybe it's just a matter of trying to even the score.'"

[Courtesy of longtime Nevada reporter Dennis Myers' Poor Denny's Almanac]

César Chávez Celebration IV March 31, 2005 VETERANS — Left to right, Maria Zamora, Librado "Lee" Chávez and Tony Mayorga. Lee Chávez holds up a United Farm Workers of America flag signed by his late brother. The flag is part of Ms. Zamora's collection of Chávez/UFWA memorabilia which she displayed at the 2004 Chávez Celebration and will do so again this year. Ms. Zamora marched with César Chávez in the 1960's and cooked for the multitudes as they trekked across California. Tony Mayorga is President of Laborers' Union Local 169, a founding sponsor of the celebration. [UPDATE: Librado Chávez and a dozen family members attended the 2008 and 2009 events.] When César Chávez came to Reno     How often do we get to meet the great men of our age? Of the great apostles of nonviolence who have lived in our time and generations, I got to meet only one, but that was a meaningful one. César Chávez's (1986) visit to Reno gave me the opportunity to meet him, to shake his hand, to stand in his presence. It was an honor, one of the privileged moments of my life.      On March 10, 1968, Robert Kennedy went to Delano to be with César when he broke his fast for nonviolence. Senator Kennedy said to César's supporters in the farm workers, "And when your children and grandchildren take their place in America, going to high school and college and taking good jobs at good pay — when you look at them, you will say, 'I did this. I was there, at the point of difficulty and danger'. And though you may be old and bent from many years of labor, no man will stand taller than you when you say, 'I marched with César'."      We have not been very good custodians of that hope. Good jobs at good pay seem further away than ever. We have to do better. César's example calls. — Courtesy of longtime Nevada reporter Dennis Myers' Poor Denny's Almanac Used by permission.

UFW FLAG ART presented by César Chávez to Reno Musicians Union Local 368 Secretary-Treasurer Beth Shay at Reno César Chávez Day I on July 15, 1986. Each color is symbolic — black for the dark situation of the farmworkers of the time; red for toil and sacrifice and the white circle for hope. Chávez himself designed it.

Reno celebrará "Día de César Chávez"

¿Quién fue César Chávez?

"Una de las figuras heróicas de nuestros tiempos"

—Senador Robert F. Kennedy, D-NY