Immigration Marches May Rise on Cesar Chavez Holiday

Demonstrations over US immigration policies have quieted today in the greater Los Angeles area. Two days ago, on Monday, while running an errand in Santa Ana, I got caught on the edges of a massive march, monitored by police in riot gear. Santa Ana is reputed to have the largest population of illegal immigrants of any US city.

And yesterday, my high schooler's third period class was interrupted by three buses full of 100 cheering students. The buses were escorted by eight city police cars. Seems that as students congregated in Santa Ana, prepared police took custody of all, sorted them by school, and requested each high school to retrieve and admonish their truant students.

However, this weekend may see more demonstrations and marches on behalf of pending Senate legislation for a guest-worker program accompanied by a long-term path to legalization.....because this Friday, March 31, is the birthday of the father of Latino rights in the US, Cesar Chavez. This Friday is Cesar Chavez Day in California and seven other states, and many public schools will be closed.

Cesar Chavez (1927 - 1993) was one of America's great civil rights leaders of Latinos and all people, and was admired and supported by US and world leaders. Senator Robert F. Kennedy called him "one of the heroic figures of our time." Martin Luther King, Jr. telegraphed to him, "Our separate struggles are really one. A struggle for freedom, for dignity and for humanity."

Chavez organized and led Latinos to secure for migrant farm workers just wages, increased health care and safer working conditions. And he did much to assuage the abuse of human dignity and the exploitation of all vulnerable people.

President Clinton, in posthumously awarding Cesar the Medal of Freedom in 1994, declared, "Cesar Chavez left our world better than he found it, and his legacy inspires us still. He was for his own people a Moses figure. The farm workers who labored in the fields pinned their hopes on this remarkable man."

Cesar Chavez remains deeply beloved and admired, and was closely entwined with much of today's leadership in Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's first political experience occurred at age 15 when Antonio volunteered for the first grape boycott initiated by Chavez. Tomorrow evening, at its annual banquet, the Cesar Chavez Foundation will accord Villaraigosa with its highest honor, the Chavez Legacy Award.

And Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, who has famously protested House immigration bill HR 4437, knew Chavez well. When California's Agricultural Labor Relations Board was estabished in 1975 to negotiate between growers and Chavez-led migrant workers, Mahony was appointed as the first Board Chair. At Cesar's 1993 funeral Mass, Mahoney eulogized Chavez as a "special prophet for the world's farm workers."

Pro-immigration marchers and supporters are also likely to join Saturday's 8th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Benefit Walk, also sponsored by the Foundation, which starts from Los Angeles historic landmark, Olvera Street.

All week long, pro-immigration demonstrators and marchers have sounded the cry, "Si Se Puede!," which means "Yes, We Can! "

"Si Se Puede" was the trademark rally cry of Cesar Chavez, who is clearly the spiritual leader of the current pro-immigration movement.
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Related Articles
-- Profile of Cesar Chavez, Latino Champion of Civil Rights and Fairness
-- Profile of Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles and Rising Democratic Star
-- Immigration in America - Protests and Support for HR 4437
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