Hispanic Heroes

I want to take a moment and blog about two of my all-time heroes, who both happen to be Hispanic and dear to me - Cesar Chavez and Jaime Escalante.

Cesar Chavez was a Mexican-American labor-leader and civil rights activist. He and Dolores Huerta created the National Farmworker's Association back in the late 50's/early 60's. Chavez helped lead several strikes for migrant workers in California and eventually into Texas and other areas.

Chavez was a believer of Ghandi's passive resistance measures. He'd often fast for weeks, sometimes months, to help his cause and draw public attention. It worked! Sales would drop of the boycotted produce and completely wipe out profit margins. The "big dogs" were forced to take notice and corrective measures.

Most Hispanics, escpecially us Mexicans, see Chavez as the "Hispanic MLK". He did so much for not only the Hispanic community in general, but for all migrant workers.

My dad and his family were migrant workers. They moved to wherever the crops were and all of the kids, spare my uncle who suffered some minor brain damage, would all work in the fields once old enough. My dad grew up in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Louisianna, and Michigan - shuffled about anytime they needed to move to pick new crops. This is one of the many reasons he is one of my personal heroes, too... but that's for another post, someday.

My dad also was able to meet Chavez back in the 70's when he attended a UAW convention out in California. He was amazed at how little he was, yet, how his presence completely filled the room! He was an amazing man with a remarkable energy about him.

For more information on Cesar Chavez, click here.

As for Jaime Escalante, he was a math teacher in Los Angeles who brought about massive change and reform in Garfield High School. It was a school where most students cared little to nothing about education - a tough place to be a teacher.

But he found a handful of students wanting to take an algebra class from him and the transformation began. He'd work long hours, raise funds for Advanced Placement testing fees, and often got involved in the students' lives to help them succeed. With each year his class sizes increased, as did the students who passed the Advanced Placement exams.

Several times during his teaching term, he was threatened by school officials, administrators, etc. He rarely sought out permission for fund-raising or changes in the curriculum, knowing his ideas would be shot down due to the lack of concern for the students at Garfield.

There was a movie that came out back in the 80's, based on his story, called Stand and Deliver. This movie is what introduced me to him and made me want to learn more. In 9th grade, I did a report about him and can still remember how proud I was to stand up and teach the class (and teacher) about this wonderful man.

You can read more about Escalante here.