Cesar Chavez was no saint, but he did do the Christian thing when he saw an entire class of people, Latino and Filipino farm workers, suffering in slum-like living conditions, putting in grueling hours under the sun, getting paid illicit wages and soaking in pesticides in Central Valley fields.

He embraced the huddled masses, the meekest of the meek, the undocumented who had no right claiming any rights:

And so, for America's biggest minority group, he's our guy, our MLK, our Gandhi, a man who fought the good fight and went on at least three 20-day-plus fasts — not for bling or for power, but for mankind's well being.

Sounds charitable to us. Give the man a halo.

But some folks weren't happy that Google decided to dedicate its Sunday “doodle” feature to the memory of Chavez, who would have been 86 (he died in 1993).

See, it was Easter. And some conservatives believe Google should have instead honored the story of a guy born to a virgin who died but then came back to life.

Credit: Google

Credit: Google

But while we're no biblical scholar, but it seems to us the spirit of Easter — and the life of Christ depicted in the Bible — is about sacrifice, about turning over a new leaf and about the meek inheriting the earth.

We're not sure the right-wingers get the irony. Chavez led a humble wave of true believers for whom Easter (actually the whole week) is kind of a big deal, too.

If only Jesus would return to see all this. Wonder what he'd think about the sandal-clad, sun-baked salt of the earth people who gather food for America and were once led by a guy who was willing to die for his people.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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