This week, students had the opportunity to celebrate labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez during a series of events. The week kicked off with a workshop on Chavez titled “His Life, His Work” and an afternoon celebrating his birthday.
La Casa Latina hosts first Cesar Chavez Week
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This week, students had the opportunity to celebrate labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez during a series of events.
The week kicked off with a workshop on Chavez titled “His Life, His Work” and an afternoon celebrating his birthday.
Portland State’s first Cesar Chavez Week was put on by La Casa Latina and other student groups in order to reach out to the Latino community and student body, and to educate students about social justice issues and Chavez’s legacy.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, so La Casa Latina and a lot of different students came together and…decided to put on a Cesar Chavez Week,” said Emanuel Magana, program coordinator for La Casa Latina.
The first event, a workshop on the life and work of Chavez hosted by professor Roberto De Anda from the Chicano/Latino Studies Program, was sponsored by the Associated Students of Portland State University’s Multicultural Affairs group.
While enjoying a spread of nachos and beverages, students were able to listen to a presentation and talk about Chavez’s life and activism.
“You all know who Cesar Chavez is, or you have some idea who he was,” De Anda said. “But do [you] know where his philosophy of nonviolence comes from?”
In his presentation, De Anda gave an account of Chavez’s life and the sequence of events that led him to become an internationally known labor leader.
De Anda described the horrible work conditions of the time, when workers would have to buy their jobs and argue for their pay.
“These conditions were made worse by the expectations of the labor contractors,” De Anda said.
Figures in the Catholic Church and civil rights leaders, Gandhi in particular, also played a role in Chavez’s views and activism.
De Anda said that Chavez has had a deep impact on his life.
“As I started reading about Cesar Chavez, preparing for this talk, I had to stop and think about how Chavez had influenced my life—my personal life and my professional life,” De Anda said.
During the closing discussion, De Anda said that Chavez’s activism has influenced many of the labor organizations and laws now in effect, but there’s still more to be done in terms of changing conditions for farmworkers.
“While it’s true that Cesar Chavez and his organization were able to gain a lot of benefits—a lot of improvements for farm workers—they’re not as efficient as they were in the late 1970s and the early 1980s,” De Anda said. “Farmworkers today still work under deplorable conditions, but we have to give credit to some of the things that Cesar and his organization did.”
The second event, a birthday party for Chavez, was sponsored by the student organization Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan.
“His birthday is actually on March 31, but we decided to celebrate today because it’s part of Cesar Chavez Week,” said Brenda Neri-Wong, a freshman history and Spanish major who helped organized the events. “We did it in memory of him.”
Attendees socialized while playing Latin American games, eating traditional Mexican tres leches cake filled with pineapple and strawberries and learning more about Chavez.
A slideshow played in the background, displaying facts about Chavez and other Chicanos in the movement.
“We also wanted people to know about another Chicana, whose birthday is tomorrow, [named] Dolores Huerta,” Neri-Wong said. “She’s still an active Chicana.”
Students were able to take part in traditional Latin American games, including Los Gallitos, in which you wrap a balloon string around your ankle and try to pop other players’ balloons. The last person with a balloon still attached wins.
There was also a potato sack race, musical chairs and a pinata filled with candy. Upbeat music played during the celebration.
“We put in a CD [of] music that you would usually listen to at a Mexican birthday party,” Neri-Wong explained.
Event organizers included the party to draw more students out to the week of events and to promote Farmworker Awareness Week, which is from April 13 to April 20.
“This is our fun event and [it] also lets people know about the Multicultural Center and La Casa Latina,” Neri-Wong said. “We want them to learn about Cesar Chavez in a fun way.”
The rest of the week’s events will include a community fair, an art-through-social-justice event and a migrant housing tour.
