Labor of Love

When she was growing up in the San Jose suburb of Morgan Hill, Christine Chavez-Delgado said, teachers never allowed her to even utter her grandfather’s name at school.

But on Sunday afternoon, she regaled a crowd of more than 1,000 people with stories about her famous grandfather, Cesar E. Chavez, during a celebration of his birthday and his contributions to the cause of U.S. farm workers. The program, the sixth annual Peregrinacion March for Justice, was held at Brand Park.

She described Chavez, often seen simply as a strong labor leader, as a person who loved his family even more than he loved his job.

“Instead of family picnics, we had family pickets,” Chavez-Delgado, 27, said of her family’s patriarch. “But he always made me proud to be his granddaughter.”

Chavez was the founder and longtime president of the United Farm Workers union, and was hailed as one of the country’s best-known labor leaders. He has also been credited for bringing national attention to Mexican Americans as a separate minority group during the 1960s, a time when race relations were seen only as “black and white.”

The scene at Brand Park was reminiscent of a Chavez-led rally rather than of a birthday party. The crowd waved red flags bearing an Aztec eagle, the UFW symbol. Many in the crowd thrust their fists into the air, shouting Chavez’s frequent rallying cry “Si se puede,”--”It can be done.”

Sunday’s rally was followed by a 30-minute procession along Brand Avenue and into San Fernando, the first city in the nation to recognize Chavez’s birthday as a holiday.

Chavez, who died in his sleep in 1993 in San Luis, Ariz., would have turned 72 on Wednesday.

Many compare Chavez’s practice of staging nonviolent labor protests to the work of notable religious leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

“We’re concerned he hasn’t gotten the recognition he deserves,” said Javier Flores, executive director of Pueblo y Salud in San Fernando, a nonprofit organization serving the Latino community and the event’s main sponsor. “Our Latino youth need heroes to emulate, and this man is one of them. He fought for the dignity of all workers, not just farm workers.”

Chavez launched his labor rights movement in 1965 in Delano in the San Joaquin Valley, with the largest and most successful unionization drive of campesinos--farm workers--in the history of California’s agricultural industry.

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His early struggles in the San Joaquin Valley were sometimes marred by bitter disputes that erupted into violence between growers and picketing farm workers crying “huelga,” or “strike.” His boycott of California grapes, which began in 1968, was considered a success. The campaign against unfair labor practices caused grape growers to lose an estimated 20% in revenues across the United States and Canada in the first year alone.

“In the next few weeks, people across the country will be naming streets and plazas for my grandfather,” Chavez-Delgado said. “But the best way to honor my grandfather’s memory is to join the UFW and help out.”

Other speakers helped to energize those attending before they made their two-mile trek to San Fernando. Richard Montoya of the Chicano comedy group “Culture Clash” warmed them up with humor, and Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), a son of a migrant farm worker, told the crowd to look to Chavez as an inspiration to help others.

Dancers from “Danzantes Aztecas Cuauhtemoc” wearing feathered headdresses, or pemachos, circled and twirled to the rhythmic beat of a drum as the procession started.

Marchers carried signs bearing such slogans as “Support Farm Worker Rights,” “La Raza 2000,” and “Feliz Cumpleanos (Happy Birthday) Cesar.” Participants ended the procession at San Fernando’s Recreation Park, where organizers had set up a cultural arts festival.

“He made it so farm workers could be treated like real people,” said 10-year-old Esteban Campo, who marched in the procession with fellow fifth-graders from Pacoima Elementary School. “I’m proud, because he said that we have to stand up for our rights and that we can do anything.”

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Along with boycotts and protests, Chavez also used a series of fasts to rally support for his cause, including a 36-day water-only fast in 1988 that severely affected his health. Though he recovered, a fast five years later is thought to have contributed to Chavez’s death.

A voluntary 24-hour fast will be held in his memory April 5, ending with Communion during a 7 p.m. Mass on April 6 at St. Ferdinand’s Church in San Fernando.

A city populated heavily by Latinos, San Fernando designated March 31--Chavez’s birthday--as a citywide holiday in January 1994, which means City Hall will be closed.

“We want to make this an educational holiday, so we can teach our children about his ideas and hard work,” said San Fernando Mayor Jose Hernandez. “He’s not just a Chicano hero, but an American hero.”