Cesar Chavez told his younger brother that if the efforts of the United Farm Workers of America died with him, then he was a failure.
Richard Chavez says there's not much of a chance that his brother's life can be called a failure."Since my brother's death, more people are getting involved," the younger Chavez said. "We're very encouraged by what we see."
Richard Chavez said he and his brother worked side by side in the fields together from the time they were young boys. He saw his brother's desire to change the conditions of migrant farm workers grow daily.
"We constantly talked about the awful conditions," he said. "There were no protections at all. You could get fired for any little thing - we worked for very little money, and finally, he started to do something about it."
That something was to organize and run the United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO. Richard Chavez said Cesar started organizing the union in 1962. The organization and Cesar Chavez himself often took on agricultural giants in the fight for changes in the conditions farm workers endured.
He died of natural causes in San Luis, Ariz., at the home of a former UFW official. Cesar Chavez, 66, was in Arizona attending the trial in a lawsuit brought against the union by Bruce Church Inc. Cesar's death shocked everyone, his brother said.
"Nobody was expecting it," he said. "He was a very healthy person."
Richard Chavez will be in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night to give the keynote address for the Utah Coalition of La Raza's first annual Cesar Chavez Awards. The banquet will begin at 7 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel.
He said he's honored to speak about his brother and hopes the union's efforts continue to pick up momentum.
"We were very close," he said. "He was very kindhearted. But he could also be very stern when it came to work. He was just a noble person."
Richard Chavez said some of the most satisfying events since his brother's death have been marches in his honor, prodding several city governments to name streets, parks, etc., after Cesar Chavez.
"He trained people, and they took the ball and ran with it."