Marching for change

Sacramento events celebrate life of Cesar Chavez as they call for action to carry on his work

By Bobby Caina Calvan - Bee Staff Writer

They came in droves, forming a procession four blocks long through downtown Sacramento, chanting and singing the praises of Cesar Chavez, the iconic labor organizer whose birthday they celebrated Saturday.

At least 1,000 people -- perhaps as many as 3,000, organizers said -- made their way from Southside Park, at Eighth and T streets, to Cesar Chavez Plaza, at 10th and J streets. The annual march mixed the pageantry of Latino culture, a spirit of diversity and calls for continued activism under the banner of Chavez's legacy and California's labor organizations.

The march was "a call for action, more than just a commemoration," said Alejandro Alex Garza, an executive board member of the Sacramento chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. The council, representing a coalition of unions nationwide, spearheaded Saturday's event.

The Sacramento procession and rally were among several events around the region honoring Chavez. In Rocklin, Sierra College hosted a job fair, workshops, dancers and rappers. An annual observance also took place at the Davis Farmers Market, followed by a march through downtown.

At the Sacramento park named after her grandfather, Christine Chavez shared stories about the man the rest of the world knew as a leader of the farmworkers movement and a founder in the 1960s of the United Farm Workers union.

"My grandfather wouldn't have done this work if he didn't think it would continue after he passed," said Christine Chavez, 35, a district director for state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles.

The labor leader died in 1993.

"For Cesar Chavez, the movement was more than just farmworkers. It was also about hotel workers, janitors and health care workers," said City Councilman Kevin McCarty after speaking at the rally.

Saturday's event celebrated more than what would have been Chavez's 80th birthday.

One group couldn't resist singing "Happy Birthday" as they marched along Capitol Mall.

"Viva!" yelled Brenda Valdez as she peered down on marchers from the sixth floor of the Pioneer House retirement home along Fifth Street.

Chants of "Sí, se puede!" -- which roughly translates to "It can be done" -- rolled through the crowd. Aztec dancers, adorned with blooms of feathers, kept beat at the head of the procession, behind drummers, a mariachi band and a posse of horses.

Union members waved their colors. The UFW banner, as well as one featuring an oversized image of Chavez, flew with the crowd.

"Every day we come together, his legacy lives on," Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at Southside Park.

Juan Maldonado arrived for the march perfectly, if unwittingly, attired in a baseball jersey.

"I just put it on; it's springtime," Maldonado said. "I have to get ready for the baseball season."

The jersey bore the number and name of another famous Chavez -- Oakland A's third baseman Eric Cesar Chavez.