Written by Xochitl Peña
The Desert Sun

César Chávez frequently clashed with the Coachella Valley’s grape growers in labor disputes that highlighted his stubbornness, as well as his charisma.

It earned him a reputation among growers as an aggressive and resourceful opponent. It also won him the support and admiration of thousands of area residents who worked in the fields picking fruits and vegetables and endured the hardship of life as a migrant laborer.

Chávez’s actions for better wages and working conditions in the 1960s and 1970s paid off for the workers.

Now, a movement is afoot to continue to preserve Chávez’s legacy in the valley beyond a school that bears his name.

The National Park Service recently has been ordered to study various sites across the Western United States, including some in the Coachella Valley, as potential landmarks that will pay tribute to Chávez and the farm labor movement.

Residents will have the opportunity to share their thoughts, as well as learn about the study, at a Wednesday meeting at César Chávez Elementary School in Coachella.

“It’s nice to see César Chávez get the recognition as a Latino leader. It’s well-deserved,” said Robert Hughes, principal at César Chávez Elementary.

That school — in addition to Veteran’s Memorial Park, Coachella Valley High School, the David Freedman Ranch and the original United Farm Workers field office — are among the eastern Coachella Valley sites included in the study.

Martha Crusius, project manager for the National Park Service special resource study, said only some sites will be honored.

Important events occurred at the Coachella Valley locations but do not rise to the level of national significance as others on the list, she explained.

“But, they’ve been identified as important sites, and we’d like to talk to people in the community about what is appropriate. Is there some way they would like to commemorate what happened there?” Crusius said.

East valley residents are glad to know that Chávez and his work have not been forgotten.

Guillermina Arredondo, a lunch hour supervisor at César Chávez Elementary School, said she recalls Chávez’s work with reverence.

She was in the trenches with him, taking part in local marches shouting “Si se puede!” — Yes, it can be done!”

She said she was also there in 1990 when Chávez attended the grand opening of the elementary school in Coachella.

Chávez died in 1993 and though many schools across the country bear his name, the one in Coachella is the only facility that opened while Chávez was still alive, said Joe Mota, former regional director of the now-closed United Farm Workers office in Coachella.

The study will also examine ways to preserve the labor movement history through these valley locations.

One of the most important events occurred in May 1969, when Chávez led a march of protesters, civil rights activists and politicians from Coachella to Calexico to protest the hiring of illegal immigrants as strikebreakers.

“He fought for the rights of farm workers. It was in these places where he empowered farm workers to fight for their rights,” Mota said.

Students at California State University, Fullerton compiled the current sites for the study. Others include the Forty Acres property in Delano that housed the United Farm Workers headquarters and the Santa Rita Center in Phoenix, where Chávez did 19 days of a 24-day fast to protest Arizona law that limited farm workers’ rights.

Through the years, Arredondo said she has collected newspaper clippings, stamps, old photos and rusted buttons out of respect for the man considered one of the best known Latino rights activists in the country.

“It’s history. I’ve been collecting everything because I like the way he was humble and told people how to stay together as a union,” she said.

     
Xochitl Peña covers Indio and Coachella for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at (760) 778-4647 or at xochitl.pena@thedesertsun.com.