Barack Obama dedicates National Historic Site to César Chávez

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The historic visit today of Barack Obamato La Paz and the dedication of the Cesar Chavez monument as a nationalhistoric site is important.  It iscovered in many news stories, including here:  http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2012/1008/In-dedicating-Cesar-Chavez-monument-Obama-reaches-out-to-Latino-votersUnfortunately the writer AmandaPaulson  is poorly informed on therole of Chavez and the UFW on immigration.  She repeats the right wing view that Chavez was antiimmigrant.  Nothing could befurther from the truth. Both CNN and USA Today cover thededication today. Among the more contested issuesraised by Paulson  and by Barnacke  in Trampling Out the Vintage, is the  view of the UFW’s relationships withundocumented workers in  1975  period, the so called “Wet Line.   This is the same argumentbeing  made today by various  anti immigrant militia groups , TeaParty advocates and  posted onWikipedia . I tried for a couple of weeks to correct the Wikipedia source butothers regularly changed it back.  The post cites sources, but the sources only acknowledge a conflict,they do not support the assertion of anti immigrant behavior. I prefer Bert Corona’s.   Bert was a leading voice onimmigration  issues and organizedundocumented workers in the  organization Hemandad Mexicana.  He was also a friend of mine, and we worked together onimmigration issues.  Althoughcritical of the UFW policy, Bert never took the highly destructive view that the militia advocates promotetoday.  There were disputes overissues, and errors were  made butremember the context, which Bert for one did.   The UFW waslosing the strike  as strikers  were replaced by  with undocumented workers crossing aborder and a picket line to work in struck fields. These undocumented workers,who knew little or nothing about the UFW or the long, violent, bitter andcostly strike  they were breaking,were nonetheless  breaking a strikeon  a  movement for justice and equality.
            Chavezwas not anti immigrant.  Indeed,from its founding the UFW was an organization that worked to improve the livesof immigrants, providing education, immigration counseling, and organizing.   Helping workers toget legal status was a major part of the work.  The case cited was not about immigrants, it was about strikebreakers. Ultimately in 1975  the  UFW convention took  a formal position to organize the undocumented and to allowthem to vote in elections as a part of the California Agricultural RelationsAct. That is  the official UFWposition on the undocumented.