Students find roots in Chavez legacy
South High student Laura Maciel holds two fists full of weeds as she and other students from across California helped clean up the grounds at the National Chavez Center in Keene, Cal. (Felix Adamo / The Californian)
KEENE — In a canyon surrounded by lush rolling hills about 30 miles east of Bakersfield, Jaelyn Burres was submerged in both the legacy of Cesar Chavez and the history of her family.
Before Thursday morning, the South High School senior had never snaked down the narrow road that leads into the National Chavez Center.
But when she arrived at the sprawling 187-acre campus where the labor organizer is buried, she remembered a story her grandfather told her.
"My grandpa lived in Delano," Burres said. "He walked with Cesar Chavez and supported him."
The connection colored Burres’ experience at the center, where hundreds of students from across the state commemorated Chavez’s birthday through a variety of beautification projects.
The annual gathering has grown substantially since the union leader’s birthday was officially recognized by California politicians in 2000, said Monica Parra, events manager for the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. The date is also recognized in several other states.
President Barack Obama earlier this week declared March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day, saying that "Chavez’s legacy provides lessons from which all Americans can learn."
Through non-violent boycotts, marches and fasts, Chavez led a movement to protest the use of harmful pesticides and won improved wages and conditions for those who toiled in the fields. He inspired millions of Americans to social and political activism in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Arizona native, who died in 1993 of natural causes, would have been 84 on Thursday.
"(Students) always get a kick out of the fact that he only went to school through the eighth grade," Parra said. "But he read. He was self-taught. And he got involved at a young age."
Foundation organizers hoped Thursday’s activities — including a speech from Paul Chavez, one of Cesar’s sons — would inspire youngsters to get involved in their respective communities.
The event also featured 18 music students from Chavez High School in Delano, who brought their instruments to perform a series of Spanish and popular songs in a neatly landscaped quad.
"It’s something we always talk about," band director Alex Gonzales said of the late activist’s influence. "It’s part of the culture."
Guillermo Tamayo, a South High senior, took a break from pulling weeds near the conference center that was completed last year.
The son of a woman who used to work in the fields, Tamayo wants to work in the medical field and believes Chavez’s legacy extends beyond farm labor.
"Through hard work and dedication, many things can be achieved," he said.
Alberto Mar, Carlos Acevedo and Jason Fusco, students at Pond Elementary School in Wasco, spent the morning pulling weeds, planting flowers and sweeping pathways near Chavez’s grave.
"If not for Cesar Chavez, my grandparents wouldn’t be where they are now," said Mar, 13.
"He’s like Gandhi and Martin Luther King," Acevedo added.
The 11-year-old’s reflections centered on the past, but the field trip was also focused on the future.
"It’s to get them thinking, ‘How can I get involved?’" said Parra, the events manager. "These are gonna be our leaders some day."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.