In the Spirit of Chavez Recent Rallies Share Tactics, Passion of the 1960s (Los Angeles Daily News)

Published on Friday, March 31, 2006 by the

by Rachel Uranga

Marches, walkouts and calls for a boycott.

The immigrants-rights protests of the past week have sparked Latinos’ passion like nothing since the farm workers marches and grape boycotts led by Cesar Chavez in the 1960s and ’70s - drawing political parallels and generational ties.

Considered by many to be the first to attract Latinos to a massive U.S. social-justice movement, the legacy and tactics of Chavez - whose birthday is being celebrated today across the state - has been invoked by organizers of the recent rallies, from calls for boycotts to chants of "Si, se puede" - "Yes, we can."

"This is the formation of a new civil-rights movement," said labor leader Delores Huerta, who worked with Chavez. "Nothing would have changed for farm workers unless we hadn’t marched and lobbied, and that is the same thing that is happening."

Upward of 500,000 people streamed along downtown streets Saturday to denounce proposed legislation to build a 700-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and brand illegal immigrants and those who help them as felons.

By midweek, some organizers had seen a small victory as the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a more immigrant-friendly bill that could eventually provide 11 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

The Senate is still debating its version of a bill, and it and the House of Representatives must reach a compromise in order for legislation to move forward.

Observers concede that many obstacles must be overcome, but say that gives organizers time to build momentum as Chavez did. But, unlike Chavez, modern-day organizers have the power of media - Spanish-language radio and television whose unprecedented coverage of the immigration issue resulted in the largest demonstration in L.A.’s history.

Huerta, who is strategizing with labor and religious leaders, says the next few weeks will be filled with actions including possible picketing, walkouts and boycotts.

"This is something long term," Huerta said. "Once people get a sense of their own word and their own power, they will start using it."

More than 40 years ago, as Chavez and his followers struggled against the powerful agricultural industry, they developed peaceful yet effective strategies to raise their profile.

Chavez fasted, organized marches and called for a boycott of the grape industry. One of the most high-profile demonstrations began March 17, 1966, in Delano, with just a few dozen people, and ended in Sacramento that April 10 with about 10,000.

"These are both movements that emerged out of immigrant communities; they are both rooted in social protests and mobilization," said Raul Hinojosa Ojeda, a political scientist at UCLA’s Cesar E. Chavez Center.

Hinojosa said the current mobilization has relied heavily on symbols, just as it did back in the 1970s when he was a student and working with Chavez. Still, marchers who once hoisted the UFW flag emblazoned with a black eagle now wear white clothing to symbolize peace. And the religious images of the Virgin Mary and Father Hidalgo, a priest and one of the founding fathers of modern Mexico, were carried by many at the march as well as those who protested with Chavez.

As it was during the UFW movement, the Catholic Church has become integral to the immigrants-rights campaign.

Earlier this year, Cardinal Roger Mahony told his priests to defy any rules prohibiting aid to undocumented immigrants. Early in his career, Mahony worked with Chavez and chaired the hard-fought Agricultural Labor Relations Board founded after Chavez’s push to get laws allowing workers to organize.

Mahony stressed that organizers of the new mobilization must focus their efforts on Washington.

"They are really distinct efforts - Cesar Chavez was trying to gain rights for farm workers - to get immigrant-reform legislation, but what is the same is the spirit.

"I don’t think those tactics will get a single vote in the House or Senate. ... If it doesn’t lead to a vote, then why are we doing it?"

But some organizers, who are pushing hard for more radical tactics, bristle at the comparison with Chavez.

Organizer Jesse Diaz, a doctoral candidate at University of California, Riverside, said Chavez rejected an early immigrants-rights movement, denouncing the bracero program that would have brought immigrant workers from Mexico to work the field for lower wages and without unionization.

"I don’t see a connection here," he said. "There is a whole other lineage that goes back to (activist) Bert Corona."

The biggest difference between now and 40 years ago is the sheer number and clout of Latinos. In Los Angeles, the number of local Spanish-language news broadcasts outstrip English-language broadcasts and Latino politicians are now a powerhouse.

One undeniable legacy is Christine Chavez, the granddaughter of Cesar Chavez, now vying for a seat in the 45th Assembly District.

On Thursday, a day before what would have been her grandfather’s 79th birthday, she held a workshop at an Eagle Rock charter high school on the legacy of the farm-worker movement.

"What are some of our social-justice movements?" she asked a class of high schoolers.

Hands shot up.

"HR 4437," one girl answered, referring to the House bill that would make immigrants felons. "Immigrants," she went on to say.

EVENTS

Weekend events celebrating the life and legacy of Cesar E. Chavez:

The 8th annual Cesar Chavez Walk at Olvera Street will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday. A festival will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 125 Paseo de la Plaza, Los Angeles. For information, call (323) 722-0118.

The 13th annual Cesar E. Chavez Commemoration will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday with a march from Brand Park, 15174 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills, to Cesar E. Chavez Park, 208 Park Ave., San Fernando. A cultural-arts festival will begin at 12:30 p.m.

A mariachi Mass commemorating Cesar E. Chavez will be celebrated at 7 p.m. Monday, Santa Rosa Catholic Church, 608 Workman St., San Fernando. For information on the commemoration, call Pueblo Y Salud at (818) 637-2272.

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