Teens Lead March for Chavez in East Valley

The turnout was far less than expected, but the enthusiasm of the crowd marching through the streets of San Fernando on Saturday to honor the birthday of Cesar Chavez made up for their numbers.

“Somos pocos pero somo locos.” “We are few, but we’ve still got a lot of power,” Roger Ponce, 16, said of the chanting crowd.

Roger, a sophomore at San Fernando High School, was among a handful of teenagers who organized the march to commemorate the birthday and accomplishments of the late United Farm Workers leader. Chavez, who died April 23, 1993, would have been 69 years old today.

The student organizers are all youth leaders at San Fernando Valley Partnership, a nonprofit, community-based organization in San Fernando. They decided only two weeks ago to put together the event after learning that the city of San Fernando was not going to hold a march and rally this year. The city instead held a small gathering and lecture Friday featuring portraits of Chavez to celebrate the union leader’s work.

“We just felt that we couldn’t let Cesar Chavez’s day pass like this without having people coming together to get behind everything he did for us Hispanics,” said Victoria Rosette, 19.

In the past two weeks, the students visited local schools to spread the word about the event and handed out fliers at the San Fernando Mall.

“They went far and above what many other people would have done,” Bill Gallegos of the San Fernando Valley Partnership said.

Five hundred were expected, but only about 60 showed up. The marchers began at San Fernando High School and walked nearly two miles through the city waving Mexican and American flags, as well as the flying eagle of the United Farm Workers union. As they marched, they chanted, “Si se puede,” which means, “Yes you can,” the line that Chavez used to inspire impoverished farm workers during their struggle to gain higher pay and better working conditions.

As it went along, the march became a forum for causes ranging from opposition to Gov. Pete Wilson and his attempts to end affirmative action programs to an anti-drug rally.

“It’s about bettering ourselves and the community,” said Rosette, who donned a United Farm Workers T-shirt for the occasion. “I think that it’s really all part of what Chavez was fighting for.”

The march ended on the steps of City Hall, where the crowd gathered to watch Mexican folk dancers and listen to speeches.

“I wasn’t born when Cesar Chavez led the fight for better wages and dignity for farm workers during the 1960s and 1970s,” Erica Ortiz, 16, told the crowd. “But I grew up knowing that Cesar Chavez and the struggle he led had a great impact on my life and the life of my community.”

Ponce urged the crowd to honor Chavez and his memory by “continuing the fight. . . . Get active and get involved.”