The Bakersfield Californian

Bill would create nat’l historical park to honor Chavez, UFW movement

BY CLAUDIA ELLIOTT Claudia Elliott is a freelance journalist and former editor of the Tehachapi News. She lives in Tehachapi and can be reached by email: claudia@claudiaelliott.net.

The Cesar E. Chavez National Monument at Keene could become part of a new national historical park with multiple locations in two states.

On June 9, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Raul Ruiz, both D-Calif., introduced bicameral legislation to create the Cesar E. Chavez and the Farmworker Movement National Historical Park.

In a news release, Padilla said the bill would preserve the nationally significant sites associated with Chavez and the farmworker movement in California and Arizona. The legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Representatives Grijalva and Gallego, both D-Ariz.

According to a news release from the National Parks Conservation Association, the effort is the result of more than a decade of work by community advocates, members of Congress and a wide range of organizations.

Thousands of people gathered in Keene in October 2012 when President Barack Obama visited the three-acre monument area donated to the federal government by the Cesar Chavez Foundation to become the 398th unit of the National Park System. It was the first National Parks site to recognize the work of a contemporary Latino American — and the first unit of the NPS in Kern County.

But the former tuberculosis hospital that became headquarters for the United Farm Workers in 1972 was not the only site associated with Chavez and the farmworker movement included in a study that led to the compound also known as La Paz being made a national monument. Other sites were considered in 2012 and are included in the new historical park proposal.

If passed, the NPCA said, the bill would expand the existing Cesar E. Chavez National Monument and create a new park with multiple sites in California and Arizona.

In addition to exploring Chavez’s life and work, the park would celebrate and share other leaders and aspects of the farmworker movement including Larry Itliong and the Filipino farmworkers who were instrumental to the creation of the United Farm Workers union.

The park would also include a site in Delano referred to as “The 40 Acres,” which served as the first headquarters for the UFW — and the 300-mile route of the famous 1966 march from Delano to Sacramento would be designated a National Historic Trail.

The Santa Rita Center in Arizona would also be part of the historical park if the bill is approved. The location is associated with Chavez’s 24-Day Fast for Justice in 1972. An additional site in San Jose might be included and other sites in the Coachella Valley would be studied for inclusion.

National monuments may be created by presidential decree, but national parks and national historical parks must be created by Congress. According to the bill, the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument would continue to be administered as a distinct and identifiable unit of the NPS in accordance with the presidential proclamation.

The full text of the bill is available online at bit.ly/3yggSbM.

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2022-07-05T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-05T07:00:00.0000000Z

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