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While Barack Obama’s election slogan, Yes We Can, was borrowed directly from the United Farm Workers’ rallying cry, there remains little real appreciation in mainstream America for the work of famed labor leader Cesar Chavez. Efforts by the Cesar Chavez Task Force last month to have Industrial Boulevard in downtown Dallas renamed after the late labor leader failed. Instead, the city council voted 12-3 in favor of rechristening the major city street “Riverfront Boulevard.” The three Latino members of the council were the only votes against the move as the city now has a period of ninety days to find another street to honor Cesar Chavez. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of the Interior has designated the building in Delano, California, where Chavez formed the United Farm Workers, a historic landmark. However, beyond officially recognized monuments of national heritage and battles over street names, Chavez’s legacy continues to live on through the organizational methods that characterized the social movement he belonged to. “Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century,” examines how he paved the way for and ultimately shaped the current realities of labor and Latino political power.

GUEST: Randy Shaw, author of “Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.”

For more information visit www.beyondthefields.net.

Read Randy Shaw’s article on Tikkun Magazine at http://files.tikkun.org/current/article.php/20081108160625253/print