Arlington Hts. residents followed Chavez's lead in protests

A Chicago columnist writing recently of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers of America reminded me of the 1960s in Arlington Heights when you could have seen a Catholic priest and a nun on Campbell Street carrying banners for lettuce and grape boycotts.

For many driving by, it was an unexpected sight, although the priest and nun were not picketing alone. Those were days of activists in Arlington.

Because many farm workers lived on truck farms around the perimeter of Arlington Heights, people had seen them or, in the case of many church workers, had reached out to them in their need. There was a mother of six on our block who pulled her kids' red coaster wagon from house to house collecting food for a family her pastor had told her about. She also collected a lot of baby clothes.

Chicago writer Teresa Puente remembered her grandmother's story of her family of 12, living in a garage near Elk Grove Village during the picking season. At 6 years old, her grandmother was picking tomatoes to help her family survive.

Six-year-old pickers were not unknown around the perimeter of Arlington Heights. A story circulated of a 4-year-old who wandered into the tomato fields and died of pesticide poisoning.

Because they had driven out on summer mornings to those sub-standard homes to pick up children for summer schools that various churches were running, some of the picketers had seen the migrant families quartered in chicken coops, subdivided barns and shacks.

Having the migrant workers as close neighbors made Arlington Heights people aware of the importance of Cesar Chavez' efforts to organize the United Farm Workers. This made them willing to stand outside stores and along parkways to call attention to the situation of farm workers not only in California, but also at their own front door.

Not everyone was sympathetic to picketers. I remember once when I was leafleting for the lettuce boycott at a National Store on Northwest Highway. A couple with whom we regularly shared "living room dialogues," another 1960s activity, not only refused the leaflet, they passed me by without a nod or greeting.

With the support of hundreds of small groups (and his own agitating and hunger strikes), Cesar Chavez was able to get better contracts for farm workers, with higher wages and better working conditions.

Puente thinks it is time to celebrate Cesar Chavez' accomplishments with a national holiday. "Honoring Chavez is not something that should be politicized, because he is an American hero. It's time that a Latino leader received official recognition and to do so would help educate the broader public about the contributions of Latinos to the United States."

In their way, Arlington picketers were honoring Cesar Chavez by supporting the boycotts. Remembering the story of the poisoned child, they would especially acclaim the current effort of the United Farm Workers to stop the use of four dangerous pesticides derived from military nerve gas.