It was a great day in Turlock! We just finished this morning’s 7 a.m. blessing by the Catholic chaplain at California State University, Stanislaus in Columbia Park in Turlock, where we arrived Friday evening. Entering the outskirts of town, we were met by 55 Latino students from Cal State Stanislaus. The Radio Campesina van was out in front of the march as we wound our way through the neighborhoods playing union and regional Mexican music plus audio recordings of Cesar Chavez speaking. So many people came out of their homes to cheer us on and join the march. By the time we reached the rally site, the march was 150 people strong plus many more who packed the park.
Welcoming us there to our surprise was a mariachi group. One member was a former UFW member at a company from the area we had under union contract in the 1980s. Students and community members colorfully decorated the park around images of Cesar and farm workers. Speaking to us were students from the Latino student organization MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) at CSU Stanislaus and community activists. They served us a big meal and six of the college students, all daughters of farm workers, put on teatro or street theater skits.
Today, joining us at the lunch break in the small valley town of Ceres south of Modesto are three busloads of farm workers traveling to the march from Napa and Sonoma counties, the Salinas Valley and the Central Valley.
Today is also the birthday of UFW Vice President Armando Elenes, who is the union’s regional director for the San Joaquin Valley. We are celebrating with a big birthday cake at St. Jude Catholic Church in Ceres, where we break for lunch.
Reports are coming in on plans by farm workers to charter buses to take them to the big state Capitol rally on the final day of the march in Sacramento on Sunday, Sept. 4, Labor Day weekend. Our Central Valley operation already has commitments from farm workers to fill 17 buses, on its way to 40. The Central Coast is shooting for 30, the Napa-Sonoma area 18, and Oxnard-Ventura County is working on 10. That’s a total of 98 buses carrying roughly 5,000 farm workers.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America