Rally in support of restoring the Cesar Chavez Holiday at UTEP

Carlos Marentes Director of Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos

   On January 28^th several organizations gathered to protest the decision of UTEP to remove Cesar Chavez Day as an official holiday. Speakers were Father Arturo Banuelos, Pete Duarte, Madelin Santivalles of MEChA,  Carlos Marentes Director of Border Agricultural Workers Center, Eustolia Olivas of the board of Directors,Rodolfo Diaz, Antonio Flores, Max Munoz of the Mexican American Bar Association, Selfa Chew, Adrian Stello Rivera, Yolanda Leyva of the History Department, CAUSA and Miners Without Borders. The speakers demanded the reinstatement of the Cesar Chavez Holiday and Pete T. Duarte a founder of La Fe Clinic, and former CEO of Thomason General Hospital returned the Gold Nugget Award he received for his support of UTEP. The Following statement was made by Mr. Duarte. Pete and supporters met with Dr. Natalicio who promised to reinstate the holiday but has yet to officially do so.
    Statement by Pete T. Duarte presented at UTEP on January 27, 2011 for Cesar Chavez protest.  "



Pete Duarte returns Nugget Award



 My name is Pete T. Duarte and I am a retired health care administrator, a University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) graduate with a Master’s Degree in Sociology, a concerned citizen and a proud El Pasoan. Today we are gathered here to protest the decision by the Faculty Senate of the UTEP to eliminate the observance of the Cesar Chavez Holiday on March 31, 2011. This University is located in the City of El Paso where the Mexican American-Chicano-Hispanic population is over eighty percent. The action taken by the Faculty Senate is not only a slap in the face to the students, faculty and staff on campus but it is an act of cultural/racial genocide against the majority population of our area. Cesar Chavez was not only an internationally known leader who was sought out by religious, civic, political and labor leaders for his counsel on labor/minority/social justice issues during his most active years from the 1960’s until his death in 1993. He was recognized as a leader of the most neglected socioeconomic segment of American workers ---the agricultural workers of America be they Mexican American, Filipinos, African American,” poor whites”, women or undocumented immigrants. What made him an extraordinary human being was his character since he never sought personal fame, wealth or recognition, only social justice and equality for all of us. His struggle inspired thousands of us to stand up for justice, humanity, peace, equality, freedom and nonviolent social action. I was moved to observe leaders from all of the religious denominations. International politicians, national celebrities, athletes and thousands of students throughout the nation join him in his marches, demonstrations, picket lines, and month long fasts that reaffirmed his commitment to nonviolence . For me there will never be a more inspirational heroic figure then Cesar Chavez.   



Dr. Natalicio promised to provide a solution

 

I was the eighth and last child of Eduardo S. and (Maria) Jesus Duarte who were migrant farm workers in the Central Valley of California. Every year, until I was thirteen years of age, we would leave Southern California and travel up through the agricultural farm lands of Central California ,picking cotton, potatoes, grapes, fruits, tomatoes, citrus and walnuts from early spring to early fall. Often the sky and the heavens were our roof, other times we slept and lived in barns, or farm labor shacks and even in automobiles. We were always well received but always encouraged to leave as soon as the crops were picked. Often we worked as the skies were filled with pesticides as the farmers tried to protect their crops from infestations and I learned then that the crops were more valuable than the workers’ health. If we were allowed to enroll in school, the children of farmworkers were always separated from the year round students and we were told forcefully that we would have to sit and behave or be expelled. Seldom were we taught anything except contempt and denigration of who we were as a people. I learned the bitter lessons of discrimination, inequality and racial profiling at an early age.



Despite my parents socioeconomic status I was able to rise above their social standing. I was one of three high school graduates in our family; I went on and became the first college graduate of our extended family. After graduation I joined the Peace Corps and married a fellow Corps member, Joy Hudson. I came to El Paso in 1968 as a health care community organizer during the War On Poverty where I was able to unite with outstanding community leaders and establish the Father Rahm Social Service and Referral Organization, which in the early seventies became Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, Inc. Later I was selected by parents, students and faculty to head Project Upward Bound at UTEP .and in the early nineties I became the CEO of Thomason General Hospital, now called University Medical Center. During my tenure the hospital was twice named among America’s Top 100 Hospitals. In 2004 I resigned after serving at the hospital for fourteen years as its Chief Servant, or CEO.



I prefer the title Chief Servant to CEO because my role models and heroes were all Servants---Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, our first Chicana County Judge for El Paso County, my parents and Cesar Chavez. All of them were visionary and they all acted on hope, a value that guides all of us as we seek a better understanding of the forces that shape and determine our lives. Their lives were demonstrations of the highest moral character and the goodness that defines humanity. Cesar Chavez epitomized these virtues as he fought a lifelong battle to improve the lives of the destitute marginal population in the USA and he never once sought the limelight for his efforts. As all seekers of social justice he did what he had to do because it was the right thing to do.



I believe that the world is a better place, and I am a better person, for having men like Cesar Chavez as national icons. It is difficult for people to improve if they have no role models but themselves to copy after. Cesar Chavez was and remains my role model. His vision, his hopes, for a better future for all people is a laudable goal and one that I choose to follow.

I believe that the action taken by the University to cancel the Cesar Chavez Holiday is wrong and I regret this action because it is a significant step backwards for a University ostensibly trying to reach tier 1 status. It appears that this University is getting on the Arizona bandwagon of erasing us, the Hispanic population, from history. For too long we have passively accepted whatever fate might be bestowed upon us. Now I say, “YA BASTA!” It is time for El Paso and its majority population to speak out against this injustice. I for one will no longer support the university financially and I ask that my friends to the same thing. I am also returning the Gold Nugget Award that I received in 2004 as a clear show of my disgust at this action!!!"

Pete T. Duarte