Existing comment:
Andy Imutan, Dolores Huerta, Larry Itliong, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy at end of César Chávez's twenty-five-day fast
Senator Robert Kennedy declared his support of the UFW in 1967, when he served as one of the members of the Senate Subcommittee on Migratory Labor in Delano. After listening to the Kern County sheriff relate how his deputies arrested peaceful picketers, Kennedy said: "Can I suggest in the interim … that the sheriff and district attorney read the Constitution of the United States?"
In 1968, at the end of César Chávez's fast, Kennedy addressed the press with Dolores Huerta by his side. He expressed the need to pass legislation recognizing the right of farm workers to unionize and bargain collectively with their employers, a right that industrial workers had gained with the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. Kennedy's support of the UFW earned him its endorsement in his presidential campaign, which ended tragically with his murder.
Richard Darby (lifedates unknown)
Gelatin silver print, 1968 |