¡Viva Chávez!

 

 

UPDATED 11-16-2024 GMT

Breaking News—>

BEWARE THE IDES OF NOVEMBER
STRIKE! Culinary and Bartenders unions strike Virgin Las Vegas Nov. 15 5:00 a.m. PST
Las Vegas, NV (Nov. 15 2024 5:00 a.m. PST) — For the first time in more than 22 years, the Culinary Union has taken workers out in an open-ended strike at a Las Vegas resort. Over 700 hospitality employees stopped work at the Virgin Las Vegas beginning Friday, November 15 at 5:00 a.m. PST. We will continue as long as it takes to win a new 5-year union contract. We formed picket lines around the property which will remain in place 24/7. Culinary Union Local 226 urges customers and community allies to *not* cross the strike line. We respectfully request that customers check out of the property, choose a union accommodation, dine at union restaurants and cancel reservations. Thanks for your support. Stay tuned.
¡Viva huelga!

Sindicato Culinario EN HUELGA en Virgin Las Vegas, trabajadores de la hostelería de la ciudad se unirán a la huelga en solidaridad el sábado

¡Sí se puede

Two more Barbwire/Ivins Hall of Famers
installed into Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame
Barbano nominees and strong union men Rocha and Highton win again
9-14-2024

To Win Nevada, Harris Must Turn Infrastructure Jobs Into Votes
By Gabriel Thompson / Capital and Main (Calif.) / 9-10-2024

Harris Debe Tornar Los Empleos En Infraestructura En Votos Para Ganar Nevada
By Gabriel Thompson / Capital and Main (Calif.) / 9-10-2024

CESAR CHAVEZ XVIII Celebrate the life & legacy of César Chávez
César XVIII April 5, 2024 / 5 Abril 2024
¡Sí se puede!

Ain't we a pair?
Dennis Myers & Andrew Barbano inducted into César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-10-2024

 


At last

Barbwire and Nevada Press Association Hall of Famer Dennis Myers
will be installed in the César Chávez NevadaLabor.com Hall of Fame
on April 5, 2024

A Reno High and UNR classmate, former Reno City Attorney and Justice Court Judge Patricia Lynch, will accept the award on Dennis' behalf.
MUCH MORE

VIEW OR LISTEN TO THE EVENT LIVE ON ZOOM.

 

DENNIS MYERS: NEVADA GIANT

¡Viva huelga!
NV Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar Joins UAW Reno Strikers
Wednesday 10-4-2023 5:30p.m. PDT

A Song for César: The life & legacy of César Chávez

PBS Network Premiere: 9/29/2023 | TV-PG |
Through interviews with Maya Angelou, Joan Baez, Carlos Santana and more, see how music and the arts were instrumental to the success of the social movement Chávez helped found, which mobilized thousands of farmworkers across the U.S. Through interviews with Maya Angelou, Joan Baez, Carlos Santana, Cheech Marin and more, see how music and the arts were instrumental to the success of the social movement Chávez helped found. Connecting the activism of the 1960s to today, musicians Abel Sanchez and Jorge Santana pay homage to Chávez, grassroots organizers and farmworkers through song.

PBS Reno KNPB TV-5 additional telecasts
Saturday/sábado, September/septiembre 30 / 2:30 am PT
Monday/lunes, October/octubre 2 / 4:00 am PT

Check local listings. Spread the word on UAW picket lines.

Watch preview or full program

¡Sí se puede!

Déjà vu all over again
"Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." — George Santayana

Déjà vu all over again (5-15-2009) — César Chávez/ Nevada Labor.com Hall of Famers Sam Lumpe (1940-2016), left, and George "Battling" Nelson (1932-2016), second from left, lead the United Auto Workers Local 2162 March to Reno City Hall in 2019. Good Sam was a retired member of Sheet Metal Workers Local 26/AFL-CIO. Boxing aficionado Nelson was an internationally recognized member of the United Auto Workers Union, honored with the Walter Reuther Distinguished Service Lifetime Achievement Award not long before his death. The signs speak for themselves. The more things change, the more they stay the same. (NevadaLabor.com photo by Andrew Barbano)

¡Sí se puede!

¡Union diga si!

Los invitamos a una Clínica de Alcance Rural en Silver Springs Nevada, este Sábado, el 9 de Septiembre, ubicada en 3595 Hwy 50 Suite 3 Silver Springs Nevada. El horario de la clínica es ?de las 9AM a 1PM?. La ultima revision medica sin cita es a las 12PM. ¡La Clínica de Alcance Rural ofrece servicios médicos gratuitos a todos los pacientes! Los servicios incluyen exámenes físicos generales, exámenes de Papanicolao, exámenes de glucosa, exámenes de colesterol, exámenes físicos deportivos y más. Pacientes sin cita son bienvenidos a la clínica, pero si alguien desea hacer una cita, puede comunicarse con la información mencionada en los folletos que contiene este correo electrónico. Tendremos traductores presentes en cada clínica.

llamar Rose Meza (775) 770-8679. E-mail <rosemeza@nevada.unr.edu>

From the 9-6-2023 Sparks Tribune —>

REAL MEDICAL CARE DEPT. The UNR med school's rural outreach program is hosting its latest free clinic in Silver Springs this Saturday, Sept. 9, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The location is 3595 Highway 50, suite 3. Call (775) 750-2121 or e-mail <ruraloutreachclinic@gmail.com> for appointments or more information. Spanish speakers may call Rose Meza at (775) 770-8679. E-mail <rosemeza@nevada.unr.edu>

Tell 'em you heard about it on the Barbwire.

¡Sí se puede!
CESAR CHAVEZ ABIDES. His United Farm Workers Union in California is trying to rebound after years of erosion in a difficult environment. I was heartened to learn that Nevada Legal Services is actively working on behalf of Lyon County laborers. On March 30, 2023, an awareness event will be held at the Yerington Theater from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. For info, contact Lorena Castaneda at the Farmworker Law Project (775) 284-3491 Ext. 230 <lcastaneda@nevadalegalservices.org> [[Barbwire / Sparks Tribune / 3-22-2023]]
30

 


¡ Feliz cumpleaños !
Born 3-31-1927 / March 31 is Nevada's official César Chávez Day

César Chávez, spinmeisters and hatemongers
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-30-2022

3-31-2021

Go to tmcc.edu/calendar, scroll down to March 31 and click on the César link.

César Chávez, spinmeisters and hatemongers
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-30-2022

¡Viva huelga! César Chávez Day 94
A virtual gathering on his 94th birthday
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 3-31-2021 Sparks Tribune

Viva huelga! Strike a blow for Nevada workers
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 3-24-2021 Sparks Tribune

Adios to a giant who stood strong for all Nevada workers

César Chávez Celebration XVIII / Celebración de César Chávez XVIII
Sign up for news and bulletins

Postponed due to plague

AT LAST: Installation on April 5, 2024

Newly-elected (at the Barbwire's nomination) Nevada Press Association Hall of Famer Dennis Myers will be installed in the César Chávez NevadaLabor.com Hall of Fame, the first journalist so honored.

Nominations remain open for HOF and union organizer, project and employer of the year. Submit.
Click here for sponsorships and reservations.

¡Viva Chávez!

Postponed until the plague actually subsides

Covid-19 risk remains too high to gather people breathing in a crowded room.

A surprise bit of charming post-script to Dennis Myers' life

REPORT FROM THE MEMORIAL GATHERING (9-15-2019) — About 200 people from as far away as the Philippines, Australia and Ireland gathered to honor Dennis on the banks of the Truckee River on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. His ashes will be scattered at Pyramid Lake, the termination of the Truckee on the Paiute Reservation. It was a truly Nevadian wish — the Truckee is the only U.S. river that originates in a lake (Tahoe) and ends in one. Lake Tahoe lies in two states. The bard of Nevada himself originated in California and concluded in Nevada. Life imitates art imitates life.

Nevadian Dennis Myers: The Greatest Of All Time
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 8-28-2019 Sparks Tribune

Dennis Myers, 1948-2019
OBITUARY: Veteran Nevada reporter removed from life support
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Internet Edition 8-25 and 8-26 -2019
 [En Español — La Voz Hispana En Nevada 9-18-2019]

 

Thanks to everyone who helped make César XVII a record-breaking success despite the rain and snow.

César Chávez Celebration XVII / Celebración de César Chávez XVII
Wednesday 27 March 2019 / miércoles 27 de Marzo 2019
Tahoe Ballroom / Grand Sierra - Reno
Doors open at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 7:00 p.m.
(Please change your calendar if you marked a later date. We had to move the event to March 27. Thanks for your patience.)

Ticket info/boletos

Click here for reservations thru E-Bay's secure PayPal service

Breaking News —>

HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak will deliver the keynote address at César Chávez Celebration XVII
¡Sí se puede!

RENO, Nev. (U-News) Updated 3-26-2019 GMT — Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak will make history on March 27. 2019, when he becomes the first Silver State chief executive to attend Reno's annual César Chávez celebration. The governor will deliver the evening's keynote address.

Lacy J. Dalton

In another first, country music hall-of-famer Lacy J. Dalton will perform the title track from her new EP "Scarecrow" as well as a selection of her greatest hits. The longtime Nevada resident is very involved in Silver State public affairs, especially as an advocate for wild horses.

César Chávez XVII will take place at the Grand Sierra-Reno on Wednesday, March 27. Tahoe Ballroom doors will open for conservative booze and maximum schmooze at 5:30 with dinner at 7:00 p.m. Seating is limited and early reservations are strongly recommended. Prices have not increased from last year. Reservations are $95 for adults. Seniors 65+ or students (with student i.d.) are $50 per person. Children under 12 are $35.

Reservations may be made via CesarChavezNevada.com or by contacting event producer Andrew Barbano at (775) 882-TALK or e-mailing <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>. Event and table sponsorship information is also available at the website. Laborers' International Union Local 169, a founding supporter since 2003, is again the event's platinum sponsor. With the 2019 Nevada Legislature in session, a wide range of lawmakers, lobbyists and community organizations are expected to participate.

"People have asked me how we top last September's NAACP tribute to Aretha Franklin complete with a 1965 Pink Cadillac convertible," Barbano said. "This is how we try."

Long before he became an international figure, César Chávez traveled to northern Nevada about worker issues, according to the late Reno-Sparks NAACP President Dolores Feemster who met with him at his request in the early 1960s (lunch at the former Continental Lodge at Plumb Lane & S. Virginia St.). As usual, the Reno-Sparks NAACP will register voters and sign up new members.

     Las Vegas 8-14-1992 — César Chávez with picketers at the Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The Frontier strike lasted more than eight years and garnered worldwide attention as the longest-running strike in the country. The union won. (Photo courtesy of Culinary Workers Union Local 226.)

 

The event will pay tribute to the memory of NAACP matriarch Feemster, who died in 2018, as well as to former Nevada Attorney General and Chief Justice Charles Springer, who died on Feb. 19. Springer stands with the giants for his lifelong advocacy of all aspects of human rights (civil rights, minority rights, women's rights, workers' rights).

Sen. Joe Neal, D-N. Las Vegas (ret.), will lead a tribute to his fellow César Chávez NevadaLabor.com Hall of Famer and longtime colleague Bob Price, D-NLV, who passed away on January 4, 2019. The first African American and second-longest serving senator in Nevada history (32 years), Sen. Neal was honored with a Lifetime Commitment Award by the Nevada State AFL-CIO in 1997 and is a member of the Nevada State Senate Hall of Fame. Price, former business manager of Las Vegas IBEW Local 357/AFL-CIO, represented North Las Vegas for 28 years in the Nevada State Assembly. Price and his wife, former University Regent Nancy Price, retired to Sparks more than a decade ago. The event will additionally remember the contributions of another former IBEW business manager, recently deceased Reno IBEW Local 401/AFL-CIO Business Manager Jerry David.

Former Nevada Labor Commissioner Stan Jones, the courtly gentleman with the mellifluous voice who could kill anti-labor legislation with just a short speech, died last year. A sheet metal worker (Local 26/AFL-CIO), Jones served under Republican and Democratic governors. He was arguably the last labor commissioner to take seriously his legal mandate to advocate for workers. His successors have largely viewed their jobs as protecting employers from their own employees.

Nevada Press Association Hall of Famer John L. Smith will attend to autograph copies of his new book "The Westside Slugger: Joe Neal's Lifelong Fight for Social Justice." (University of Nevada Press 2019, $34.95) John grew up in a union household, the son of Prince L. "Smitty" Smith Jr., longtime business agent of Painters & Allied Trades Local 159. John resigned after more than three decades as an award-winning columnist with the Las Vegas Review-Journal when he refused to allow the new owner, the virulently anti-union Sheldon Adelson, to influence his writing.

Maria Zamora, another César Chávez NevadaLabor.com Hall of Famer, will speak and auction off a United Farm Workers flag which she hand-sewed and carried aloft while marching with César Chávez throughout California a half-century ago. Proceeds will be donated to local charities. [UPDATE: This has been moved to the 2020 event.]

We will feature a preview of the locally produced Broadway-style musical — César Chávez Resistencia! (Resistance!). The play is equal parts drama, music and ancient Greek amphitheatre. Aeschylus and Sophocles, call your agents. You're back in style.

By popular demand, Ballet Folklorico de La Sierra will make an encore as will noted Reno artist Erik Holland who will unveil his new César Chávez memorial portrait, the latest in a series.

"Ballet Folklorico will close the evening because no one should be asked to follow that performance," Barbano said. "They are spectacular even without a pink Cadillac."

Chávez family members, some of whom are longtime Nevadans, have been invited as usual but will not attend this year. Longtime Reno resident Ramon Chávez has notified event management that his mother, Mary Ann, very recently passed away. She and her husband Librado "Lee" Chávez, one of César's brothers, were frequent patrons over the years. Lee Chávez died in 2016. Mary Ann last graced us with her presence in 2018. We will remember her among the labor giants we have lost in the past year.

Additional features will be announced as the date approaches. As always, awards for outstanding union leadership will be presented.

Reno's first César Chávez Day was declared on July 15, 1986, by then-Mayor Pete Sferrazza. Chávez spoke before a regional gathering of the International Association of Machinists, then to a general meeting of union members at the American Federation of Musicians Local 368 auditorium. History and photos of that day and all subsequent celebrations may be accessed at CesarChavezNevada.com/ In his later years, César Chávez often visited southern Nevada, frequently rallying Culinary Union members on the Las Vegas Strip at the Frontier Hotel in what became the longest strike in U.S. history. (The union won.)

César Chávez was born near Yuma, Ariz., on 31 March 1927 and died in 1993 at age 66. Family members agree that his series of dramatic fasts along with the rigors of his work shortened his life. His siblings lived into their nineties.

¡Sí se puede!

In 1994, President Clinton honored Chávez with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.

In 2003, the U.S. Postal Service issued a first class stamp in his honor, sparking the annual Reno celebrations.

In 2013, President Obama issued a proclamation for César Chávez Day. Gov. Sisolak will do the same later this month.

As a candidate in 2008, Obama endorsed making Chavez's birthday a national holiday. Petitions have been signed at previous Reno events and forwarded to Washington.

Stay tuned.

Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.

¡Sí se puede!

In Solidarity,

Andrew Barbano
CesarChavezNevada.com
NevadaLabor.com
Barbwire.TV
(775) 882-TALK [882-8255]

Reno Gazette-Journal ads break March 24
KTVN TV-2 (CBS/Home of March Madness)
Spots break 'round the clock starting March 24
[VIEW]

 

Hot off the press: "The Westside Slugger"
The biography of Sen. Joseph M. Neal, Jr.
Nevada's first African-American senator
By Nevada Press Association Hall of Famer John L. Smith
Published in January 2019 by the University of Nevada Press

VETERANS — Left to right, Maria Zamora, Librado "Lee" Chávez and Tony Mayorga. Lee Chávez holds up a hand-crafted 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. Ms. Zamora marched with César Chávez in the 1960s and cooked for the multitudes as they trekked across California. She traveled from California to attend the 2014 event and has been our guest several times since. She weaved wonderful stories for the audience in her Hall of Fame address. As always, the Chávez family was well represented by Reno resident Ramon Chávez and his family. Tony Mayorga served many years as director of training and President of Laborers' Union Local 169, a founding sponsor of the celebration. [Librado Chávez and a dozen family members attended the 2008-2011 events. Lee and Tony are now gone. Tony was inducted to the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame by fellow honoree Sen. Joe Neal on March 31, 2018. He thus became only the second posthumous recipient. Adios, hermano.]

The César Chávez Long March 3-17-1966
by Reno artist Erik Holland

The original watercolor above was displayed for several years in the Nevada legislative offices of State Senator and future Congressman Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas, prime sponsor of the 2009 César Chávez Day bill which is now state law. (Nevada Revised Statutes 236.027/AB301-Kihuen et al./2009). Mr. Holland is preparing a new painting to be unveiled at César Chávez Celebration XVIII on May 30. 2020, latest in the series. The Reno-Sparks NAACP will participate with a full display and voter registration, as usual. Click here for event reservations and sponsorship information. Copyright © 2009 Erik Holland. All rights reserved.

Poor Denny's Almanac:
Remember: St. Patrick was once a slave who returned to minister to the land which had once shackled him.

On St. Patrick's Day: in 1934, thirty African American students were ejected from the U.S. House of Representatives dining room when they sought service as a protest against the firing of a waiter who tried to serve blacks, with police shoving the students out of the restaurant, down the hallway, and outdoors, fists swinging and blows landing; in 1966, farm workers led by César Chávez began a march from Delano to Sacramento; in 1970, U.S. postal workers struck.

[Courtesy of longtime Nevada reporter Dennis Myers' daily Poor Denny's Almanac © 2018]

 

News / Noticias

50 years in Nevada: Trying to outlive them all
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-27-2019 Sparks Tribune

GOP avoids Chávez event
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 3-21-2019

Guv keynotes César XVII: 17-year overnight success
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-13-2019 Sparks Tribune

Judge not lest ye be judged — or misjudged
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 3-6-2019 Sparks Tribune

Even in Sparks, God works in mysterious ways
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-27-2019 Sparks Tribune

2018 RENO CESAR CHAVEZ CELEBRATION PHOTO GALLERY
By Krista Scripter / Reno Gazette-Journal / rgj.com 4-3-2018

March 21 (Barbwire/César Chávez XVII Update) — On this date in 1806, Benito Juárez was born. ¡Viva Juárez!

Poor Denny's Almanac

March 31: A birthday for giants — Jack Johnson and César Chávez

March 31 — On this date in 1870, Thomas Peterson Mundy of Perth Amboy became the first African American to vote under the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had been ratified the previous day (he also served as a school principal and was later elected to the Middlesex County Commission); in 1878, boxer (and future world heavyweight champion) Jack Johnson was born in Galveston; in 1911, after three years of prosecutions by the (Theodore) Roosevelt and Taft administrations of newspapers that reported on tawdry government conduct in the construction of the Panama Canal, the cases—which were thrown out by the courts—formally came to an end when a U.S. attorney in New York requested permission to enter a filing called a nolle prosse dropping all criminal libel charges; in 1927, César Chávez was born near Yuma, Arizona; in 1949, attorney Madison Graves filed charges against Las Vegas police officers after a teenager was beaten in the city jail and then given no medical attention to head injuries for four hours; in 1961, what was reported to be Reno’s first sit-in was staged by African Americans at the Overland Hotel’s café while elsewhere in the downtown a picket line was thrown up at the Nevada Bank of Commerce; in 2008 (and 2018), César Chávez Day will be celebrated with a large gathering at the Circus Circus Hotel in Reno. [Courtesy of longtime Nevada reporter Dennis Myers' daily Poor Denny's Almanac, Copyright © 2007-2018 Dennis Myers.]

Ticket info/boletos


Sponsorship and ticket prices —> UPDATED FOR 2020
Previous sponsors and ticketholders will be given preference.
Prices may change before showtime. It's never happened before and we don't anticipate any this year, but things happen. Please monitor this website.

MAJOR SPONSORSHIPS

PLATINUM ONE ONLY —> LABORERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 169

DIAMOND $ 8,500

  • Inclusion on all mass media including at least 20 radio/television spots or more
  • Three reserved tables for 10
  • Major sponsorship credit on all media
  • Logo and links at the 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: $ 6,500

  • Two reserved tables for 10
  • Half of Diamond Package radio/tv spot schedule
  • Logo and links at the 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: $2,950

  • Reserved Table for 10
  • Sponsorship credit on event program
  • Mass media promotional inclusion as available
  • Logo and links at the César Chávez section at NevadaLabor.com

BRONZE and BRONZEx2: Reserved Table for 10

  • Purchased on or before October 21, 2020— $ 895.00
  • Purchased May 26 or thereafter: $ 925.00
  • BRONZEx2 —> Buy 2 and save $100 or more
    On or before October 21, 2020, 2 Tables for 10 @ $ 845 per table = $1,690.00 for 2
    Purchased October 22 or thereafter, 2 @ $ 900 each = $ 1,800.00 for 2

Individual Tickets

Purchased on or before October 21, 2020: $ 95 per person
Thereafter or at the door: $ 100 per person

Seniors 65+ or students (with student i.d.)
     Purchased on or before October 21, 2020: $ 55 per person
     Thereafter or at the door: $ 60 per person

      Children under 12: $ 35.00 per person

     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

Use your credit or debit card through
E-Bay's secure PayPal system.
Prices may change before showtime. It's never happened before and we don't anticipate any this year, but things happen. Please monitor this website.

Thank you.

Please e-mail us or call immediately with any questions, (775) 882-TALK [882-8255]
We reserve the right to turn down any sale or admission.

Major sponsors are donating portions of their ticket blocks 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. ¡Sí se puede!


Washoe County Commission proclaims César Chávez Day/del dia de César Chávez 2017

PROCLAIMING CESAR (3-21-2017) — (left to right) Washoe County Commissioners Vaughn Hartung, Jeanne Herman and Kitty Jung; César Chávez nephew and Reno resident Ramon Chávez holding the proclamation; César Chávez annual celebration producer Andrew Barbano; Commissioner Marsha Berkbigler, Commission Chair Bob Lucey, County Manager John Slaughter. (Scott Oxarart photo)


7-15-1986: César Chávez returned to Reno


Obama pays tribute to late Reno labor leader

THE WAY WE WERE — The above is a recently discovered photo from July 15, 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. (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.)

Reno-Sparks NAACP matriarch Dolores Feemster reports that she met with César Chávez in Reno in the early 1960s. If you have any additional information about César Chávez's earlier visits to northern Nevada, please give a holler. It's important.

(Photo courtesy of Dan Rusnak, retired business manager of Laborers' International Union Local 169.)

More stories and photos from César Chávez's 1986 Reno visit

      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.

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.


UPDATED 22 AUGUST 2014 01:07 a.m. PDT, 08:07 ZULU/GMT/SUT/CUT —> On this date in 1966, the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, now the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), was formed from a merger of the National Farm Workers Association and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and became a powerful tool for the advancement of Latinos under the leadership of César Chávez and Dolores Huerta. (Courtesy Dennis Myers' daily Poor Denny's Almanac © 2014)

OCTOBER, 1969 — César Chávez, right, and Walter Reuther, center, at the dedication of the United Farm Workers new headquarters in Delano, Calif. The buildings were dedicated to Reuther's late younger brother, Roy. The Reuther-led United Auto Workers were instrumental in acquiring the land and funding for the "The 40 Acres," as the site was known. The man at left was on a picket line for five years and may or may not be a Chávez relative. Anyone who can identify him, please contact me. An actor in the 2014 major motion picture "César Chávez" closely resembled him. (Photo courtesy of George "Battling" Nelson, UAW Local 2162 Retirees and 2013 César Chávez NevadaLabor.com Hall of Fame Honoree.)

Las Vegas council approves “Camino Cesar Chavez” ceremonial name on Pecos Road
By Jane Ann Morrison / Las Vegas Review-Journal 5-7-2014

Sponsorship and Online Ticket Purchase Information
Boletos e información

César Estrada Chávez was born March 31, 1927

Join the campaign for a César Chávez national holiday
Sign the petition

¡Sí se puede!

César Chávez NevadaLabor.com Honorees & Hall of Famers


 

Annual César Chávez Celebration
Consistent Supporters Honor Roll


Founding & Platinum Sponsor

AT&T Nevada

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers/AFL-CIO

IBEW Local 1245


Southwest Regional
Council of Carpenters
National Assn. of Letter Carriers
Branch 709

American Federation of Government Employees Local 2152
Ioannis A. Lougaris
VA Medical Center-Reno
California School Employees Association (CSEA) Chapter 390

AFSCME Local 4041


      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.

HISTORY: MARCH 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]


¿Quién fue César Chávez?

"Una de las figuras heróicas de nuestros tiempos"
—Senador Robert F. Kennedy, D-NY




Blasts from the past

Reno César Chávez Day XVII
March 27, 2019

Reno César Chávez Day XVI
March 31, 2018

Reno César Chávez Day XV
March 29, 2017

Reno César Chávez Day XIV
March 30, 2016

Reno César Chávez Day XIII
March 31, 2015

Reno César Chávez Day XII
March 31, 2014

Reno César Chávez Day XI
March 28, 2013

Reno César Chávez Day X
March 31, 2012

Reno César Chávez Day IX
March 31, 2011

Reno César Chávez Day VIII
March 31, 2010

Reno César Chávez Day VII
March 31, 2009

Reno César Chávez Day VI
March 31, 2008

Reno César Chávez Day V
March 31, 2006

Reno César Chávez Day IV
March 31, 2005

Reno César Chávez Day III
March 31, 2004

Reno César Chávez Day II
March 31, 2003

Reno César Chávez Day I
July 15, 1986