Civil Rights Chief Cesar Chávez Seen in President Biden’s Oval Workplace – NBC Los Angeles

When President Joe Biden signed Executive Orders on his first day as Commander in Chief, the Oval Office featured the face of a California civil rights icon who changed the lives of farm workers across the country.

Behind the “Resolute Desk” sat a photo of the first family on a table next to the bust of César Chávez, the Mexican who founded the United Farm Workers Union in the 1960s.

Despite leaving this world more than 25 years ago, Chavez played a key role in American history.

“As a son and part of the family, I am very proud that my father’s bust is in the president’s office,” said Paul Chávez, son of the late civil rights leader.

The human rights defender’s copper bust has been placed one step away from the desk where the president will sign laws that will change the fate of millions of people for at least the next four years.

“President Biden is working with César Chávez – that means the president’s heart is very big and he understands the sacrifice of farm workers,” said Dolores Huerta, an activist leader who worked closely with César Chavez.

“But I think that more than that, the importance of it [bust] is that Biden recognizes the contribution that immigrants have made to this nation, ”said Paul Chavez.

The sculpture was previously in California and was moved to the country’s capital at the request of the White House.

“The president was an admirer of my father, but the fact that [the bust] There is something very beautiful in the office and we are honored, “said Paul Chavez.

The 46th President of the United States has a close relationship with the farm leader’s family.

“He told me that part of his decision to go into public service was based on my father’s example,” Paul Chavez said of Biden.

César Chávez’s phrase “Si Se Puede” (Yes, we can) served as the melody in the migration marches and will now echo in the nation’s most emblematic office.

“”[President Biden] works with the most humble person, Cesar Chávez, a man who gave his life to work with the poorest people in the countryside, “said Huerta.

President Joe Biden signed Executive Orders on his first day in the Oval Office, reintroducing the US to the Paris Agreement. He commissioned masks on federal property and ordered federal agencies to prioritize racial justice and review policies that exacerbate systemic racism.

In addition to being humble, an activist and a family man, César Chávez was devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe like President Biden – something that the Chavez family said they share even more.

The Oval Office also features busts of activist leaders Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, former Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as a portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt hanging outside the Resolute Desk.

But César Chavez’s addition to the room gives even more hope that the highest office in the country respects immigrants and values ​​the contributions of Latinos to the United States.