CORPUS CHRISTI (Texas) CALLER-TIMES

March 26, 2010

March recalls Chavez struggle

STEVEN ALFORD/Special to the Caller-Times

CORPUS CHRISTI — Retired art teacher Rosa Flores remembers the deplorable working conditions she had as a girl picking blueberries in the summer with her family.

Wages were low. Workers lived in shacks with dirt floors.

She also remember how Cesar Chavez changed that.

“Kids these days don’t know about how it used to be, how much sacrifice was spent to make a better life for future generations,” Flores said.

“It’s important that we educate them about Cesar Chavez and what he stood for so that we never forget.”

That’s what Saturday’s Cesar Chavez Marcha sets out to do. The 11th annual event begins at 1 p.m. at the Cesar Chavez memorial at Port Avenue and Agnes Street. Marchers will go to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church for speeches and on to the Antonio E. Garcia Arts Education Center, 2021 Agnes St., for refreshments and music.

Chavez, who unionized farm workers and campaigned against the use of pesticides on fruits, died in 1993.

Cryselda Gomez, a 14-year-old student at Driscoll Middle School, understands the importance of his work.

“He made a lot of important changes,” Cryselda said. “He stood up for people who couldn’t stand up for themselves.”

She plans to attend the march on Saturday. She only has missed one in the past 11 years.

“I first started coming with my grandfather,” she said. “Soon I made some friends with the group and now I like to go back each year and march with everyone I’ve met.”

Event organizers say Chavez’s message is just as relevant today as it was in the 1960s.

“This was a tremendous man,” said Victor Lara Ortegon, of the Cesar E. Chavez Committee. “Not only for farm workers, but for the international community as a whole. He helped improve Mexican-American relations around the globe.”