Darryl Morin, national president of the advocacy group Forward Latino, jumped from his chair when he saw it on TV – a bust of civil and labor rights leader Cesar Chavez just behind President Joe Biden when he signed executive orders.
“I literally jumped out of my chair and shouted, ‘This is Cesar Chavez! Cesar Chavez!'” Said Morin, whose group has caused civil rights and anti-discrimination on behalf of Latinos.
The bust, created 25 years ago by Paul Suarez, quickly attracted attention on social media.
It rested on a console between family photos behind Biden as he sat at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and signed a number of executive orders, several of which focused on racial equity and the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which is brutal for the farm workers. who Chavez advocated. Biden is also sending an immigration bill to Congress that will give farm workers temporary legal status if they pass a criminal background check and have been working in agriculture for four of the past five years.
“When I think about everything our community has been through over the past four years, there can be no stronger message of empathy and that it is important that our community moves forward,” Morin said.
According to the Cesar Chavez Foundation, the bust, which was at the Cesar Chavez National Monument in La Paz, California, was sent to Washington at the request of the White House. The foundation said it had never been in the Oval Office before.
“The placement of a bust of my father in the Oval Office symbolizes the hopeful new day that is dawning for our country,” Chavez’s son, Paul Cavez, president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, said in a statement. “It’s not just because it honors my father, but more importantly because it represents faith and empowerment for an entire nation on whose behalf he fought and sacrificed.”
One of Biden’s White House officials, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, is Chavez’s granddaughter.
“I am very excited and honored that this is something he has chosen as a symbol in his office,” she said. “It is an honor and a tribute to the community.”
The Latino community has been hit excessively by the pandemic, with a higher number of cases and deaths. A large proportion of people without legal status living in the country are Latino, including many farm workers.
Dolores Huerta, a civil rights leader who organized workers with Chavez, had not yet seen videos or photos of the bust when she was reached for comment Wednesday night, but was told it was in the White House.
“I find it exciting that he did it. It’s like a tribute to farm workers, and doing it in front of the Cesar bust shows his sincerity he has, especially when it comes to workers,” she said. “Biden’s commitment to workers is very strong.”
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