#CesarChavezDay: Think Different

31Mar
by Edna Becerra

In the late 1990s, Apple, Inc. launched its Think different campaign – a simple but powerful homage to icons whose nonconformity propelled exploration, innovation, art, and social justice. Featured among these icons was civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.

The poster advertisement featuring his photo is instantly humbling. Cesar, in a short-sleeved button shirt, glances down as he carries a set of gardening tools over his shoulder – a dusty landscape in the background. El lider and el campesino all at once. This black and white poster, in it’s 24×36 glory, hangs in my living room.

I study the poster often, especially in moments of frustration and hopelessness that come all too frequently these days. And then, I remember the Think different television advertisement and its inspiring monologue.

“Here’s to the crazy ones…,” it  opens. “…And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

And I realize that it’s time to unleash the crazy and make some good trouble. On Cesar Chavez’s birthday, let’s recommit to standing up for what’s right, even if we’re standing alone.   

¡Viva Cesar Chavez!

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Edna Becerra

Edna Becerra is the Associate Director of Web Strategy and Multimedia at Whittier College. With more than a decade of experience in the higher education realm, she has a deep understanding of the college preparation and admission processes, and the unique challenges that first-generation students and students of color face in pursuing and completing a college education. Together with her husband, Edna is raising two daughters.

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