From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: An appeal for help from the United
Date: 26 Aug 92 16:22:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700413:000:7409
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Aug 26 09:22:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: An appeal for help from the United 

/* Written  1:08 pm  Aug 24, 1992 by jhwoodar%well.sf@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu in cdp:misc.activism. */
From: Cesar Chavez
      P.O. Box 62, La Paz
	  Keene, CA  93531-9989

July, 1992

Dear Friend,

What's happening to this country?

I'm wondering. I'm outraged. AND I'M ANGRY.

For the past few minutes, I've been thinking back on a memorial I attended
for a 29-year-old man. His wife was at the service, but she was too upset
to speak. His children, their faces already aged by grief, tried to comfort
her. But she was inconsolable.

This man, this husband and father, was murdered in cold blood. And instead
of justice, the legal system provided a reminder of a fact that has been
driven home time and again since the start of the 1980s:

In America, power and wealth rule. The system doesn't work equally for the
benefit of all. In fact, when the "little people" speak up, the system can
be used to crush us.

If that sounds cynical and bitter, I'm sorry. But it's true. The story of
Rufino Contreras, and especially of what happened in the aftermath of his
death, makes it painfully clear.

Rufino was a member of the United Farm Workers of America. You've probably
heard of us: Armed only with our unshakable commitment to a safe and just
food supply, we've been struggling for 30 years on behalf of the poorest
workers in the United States. Low wages, inhumane working conditions,
exposure to toxic pesticides, and long hours of back-breaking labor by
children are among the evils we've fought against.

WE WORK WITHIN THE SYSTEM.
WE FOLLOW THE RULES.
AND WHAT DOES IT GET US?

IT GOT RUFINO KILLED.

That day, we were exercising our legal rights to strike and demonstrate. We
were met with viciousness and hate.

The "agribusinessmen" whose inhumane practices we were protesting hired
thugs to put us in our place. They beat us with baseball bats and
threatened us with attack dogs. They set our cars on fire and shot into our
picket lines. And they gunned down Rufino Contreras, who was unarmed.

One of the most powerful growers in California, Carl Maggio, wasn't content
to sit by and let others inflict the violence for him. He joined in the
fun. It was reported that he deliberately drove a truck into a group of
strikers, hitting one man and breaking both of his legs.

Then the courts ordered US to pay this sadist $2.4 million!

I've asked myself a thousand times, HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED? The
obvious answer is disheartening: The system didn't work.

Just consider the facts:

Carl Maggio sued us successfully for damaging his crops and his profits.
But the evidence was clear: We used no violence against people or property.
We did nothing illegal.

Maggio's workers had a right to strike. They did so in overwhelming
numbers. His losses were caused by the unskilled "scab" laborers he hired
to take their place.

Among those would-be strike-breakers were the wife and son of the judge who
decided the case!

It's not surprising that this biased judge, William Lehnhardt, also
accepted the grower's damage figures at face value. Actually, the losses
were greatly exaggerated. In the long run, Maggio came out ahead because of
record-high lettuce prices, inflated by a shortage after the strike.

The injustice of it all is grotesque. But there's more.

This same judge, William Lehnhardt, is the one who decided that we had to
pay the entire $2.4 million in damages to Maggio BEFORE we could further
pursue an appeal.

And this same judge, William Lehnhardt, is the one who ruled that Rufino
Contreras' killers should not be prosecuted.

I THOUGHT OUR LEGAL SYSTEM WAS DESIGNED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT!

Rufino's innocent children, Nancy and Julio, were left to grow up
fatherless. Their father's killers will never be punished. And although we
did absolutely nothing wrong, the United Farm Workers were slapped with
potentially fatal legal penalties.

They're trying to kill us. Not with guns, the way they took the life of
Rufino Contreras. They want to destroy us financially, using the legal
system that's supposed to work fairly for all of us.

And they're succeeding. Both the California Court of Appeals and the State
Supreme Court ruled against the UFW, letting stand Judge Lehnhardt's
devastating decision.

Things like this SHOULDN'T HAPPEN IN AMERICA. We shouldn't be penalized for
pursuing legitimate union activities. For speaking out as the First
Amendment entitles us to. For working within the system. For following the
rules.

It's the legacy of the 1980's. The past dozen years in this nation have
brought a backlash against human rights groups like ours, an unprecedented
use of established power against the people the Constitution and the laws
are meant to protect.

It's enough to make you angry.

It DOES make me angry. And I'm glad. Because anger is one of the two things
that have always kept us going.

The other is the conviction that we are not alone. It's so important to us
to know that there are people out there, throughout the United States, who
still have some altruism and compassion left.

You may have joined with us in the grape boycotts of the 1960s and '70s,
which brought better wages and benefits to farm laborers. Today, the table
grape boycott has taken on life-and-death importance. We're using it to get
certain deadly pesticides banned.

As our friend and partner, you'll help us keep this crucial battle going.

Your dollars will give us the strength we need to overcome the crippling
burden imposed on us by the $2.4 million Maggio decislon.

You'll be part of a well-established movement for change fighting unfair
labor practices, sexual harassment of women workers, pesticide pollution of
our environment and other abuses.

You'll be with us every step of the way as we picket, attend the funerals
of fallen workers like Rufino, and redouble our efforts to see that justice
is done.

I give you my pledge that we'll handle your donated funds responsibly. As
president of the Union, I am paid a subsistence salary of $6,000 a year. We
don't spend money on fancy offices or other "perks," as some other
organizations do.

With your help we'll be able to go on obtaining vital protections for the
nearly 100,000 farm workers who asked for our help in fighting the terrible
conditions they live and work with daily.

Because the human needs we serve are so compelling, many contributors to
the United Farm Workers donate $100 or more. Others share $50, $35, $25--as
much as they can afford.

We'll be deeply grateful for whatever you're able to give. Your belief in
the justice of our cause is what's most important to us. Writing this
letter has cleared my mind and recharged my spirits. With your backing, I
believe there is nothing we can't achieve.

They will not crush us.
They will not destroy our determination.
No matter how many of us they kill, we won't give up.
Rufino Contreras DID NOT die in vain.

Sincerely,
Cesar Chavez
President
United Farm Workers of America

P.S. Thousands of lives depend on our commitment to justice-- and yours.

Without your help, our field and community organizing, pesticide education
projects, table grape boycott and other efforts crucial to the survival of
the workers and their families cannot go on.

Please, if you can, send your response today.

Make checks payable to the United Farmworkers of America