Texas State University to honor life, legacy of César Chávez

      
  

By Mark Geis

Texas State’s annual Sí Se Puede! Dinner, honoring American hero and activist César Chávez, will be held Tuesday, April 5.

Chávez founded the United Farm Workers Association, later known as United Farm Workers (UFW). He led the historic nonviolent movement for farm worker rights and inspired farm workers and millions of others to commit themselves to social, economic and civil rights activism. Chávez’s legacy continues to educate, inspire and empower people from all walks of life.

The Sí Se Puede! Dinner will be held from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the LBJ Student Center Ballroom followed by a showing of the film El Caso Longoria (The Longoria Affair) by award-winning producer and documentary filmmaker John J. Valadez. After the film, Valadez will lead a discussion about the importance of the film in understanding race and ethnic relations in Texas history.

El Caso Longoria documents the events that transpired in 1945 after Private Felix Longoria was killed in battle fighting the Japanese during World War II. When Longoria’s body was sent to his family in Three Rivers, Texas, the town’s only funeral parlor refused use of their chapel because “the whites wouldn’t like it.” The incident sparked national outrage and brought together two savvy political leaders, Senator Lyndon Johnson and Dr. Hector García. Their relationship helped Latinos become a national political force for the first time in American history.

The event is free and open to the the public. Event sponsors include the Latino Student Association, the Underrepresented Student Advisory Council (USAC), the Department of History, the Center for Latino Media and Markets, Phi Iota Alpha and Sigma Iota Alpha. For more information, contact the Office of Multicultural Students Affairs at 512.245.2278.

“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community…Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”  —César Chávez