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Darryl Morin, national president of advocacy group Forward Latino, jumped out of his chair when he saw it on TV – a bust of civil rights and labor leader Cesar Chavez right behind President Joe Biden as he signed decrees.
“I literally jumped out of my chair and shouted, ‘It’s Cesar Chavez! Cesar Chavez! Said Morin, whose group has supported civil rights and anti-discrimination causes on behalf of Latinos.
The bust, created by artist Paul Suarez 25 years ago, quickly gained attention on social media.
He sat at a console amid family photos behind Biden as he sat at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office and signed a series of executive orders, including several on racial equity and the fight against the pandemic of Covid-19, which was brutal for farm workers that Chavez defended. Biden is also sending Congress an immigration bill that would give farm workers temporary legal status if they pass criminal background checks and have worked in agriculture for four of the past five years.
“When I think back to all that our community has been through over the past four years, there can be no stronger message of empathy and the importance for our community to move forward,” said Morin, whose group has supported civil rights and anti-discrimination causes. on behalf of Latinos.
The bust was located in La Paz, Calif., At the Cesar Chavez National Monument and was sent to Washington at the request of the White House, according to the Cesar Chavez Foundation. The foundation said she had never been in the Oval Office.
“Placing a bust of my father in the Oval Office symbolizes the hopeful new day dawning for our nation,” said Paul Chavez, son of Chavez and president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, in a statement. “It is not only because it honors my father, but above all because it represents the faith and the responsibility of a whole people in whose name he fought and sacrificed himself.
One of Biden’s White House officials, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, is Chavez’s granddaughter.
“I am very excited and honored that this is something he has chosen as a symbol in his office,” Chavez Rodriguez told NBC News. “It is an honor and a real tribute to the community.”
The Latin American community has been disproportionately hit by the pandemic, with higher rates of cases and deaths. Many of the people without legal status living in the country are Latin Americans, including many farmers.
Dolores Huerta, a civil rights leader who organized workers with Chavez, had not seen video or photos of the bust when he was reached by NBC News on Wednesday night, but was told he was in the White House .
“I think it’s exciting that he did that. It is like a reverence towards the farm workers and doing this in front of Caesar’s bust shows his sincerity that he has especially when it comes to the workers, ”she said. Biden’s commitment to workers is very strong. “
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