Hope events honor Cesar Chavez
The annual celebration’s keynote address, "Yes We Can," which will focus on the financial industry, will be presented on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Maas Center auditorium by David McKinney and Elias Sanchez, who are Hope alumni. On Thursday, Sheila Contreras of Michigan State University will present "Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Great Immigration Debate" at 11 a.m. in the first floor rotunda of the Martha Miller Center for Global Communication as part of the college’s "Global Coffee Hour."
Admission to both events is free.
McKinney and Sanchez will share reflections on the impact of Chavez’s movement as well as information about their background and the financial industry. They will discuss how their success in the financial industry is connected to the impact of Chavez’s legacy. McKinney is a pension fund real estate investment adviser with Oakman Graves Capital Planners, and is a 1981 Hope graduate living in Chicago. Sanchez is a financial adviser with Merrill Lynch and a 1978 Hope graduate living in Hinsdale, Ill.
Contreras will highlight the influence of Chavez and the United Farm Workers. Her presentation will include an introduction to the Chicano movement politics of the 1970s and the relevance of that historical period to the current immigration debate in the United States. She is an associate professor at Michigan State University, teaching Chicano/Latino studies and American studies.
The events at Hope are named in honor of Cesar E. Chavez (1927-93), who played a leading role in the 1960s in organizing the nation’s migrant farm workers, and was the first head of the National Farm Workers Association, later the United Farm Workers. March 31, his birthday, is the official Cesar E. Chavez Day of Service and Learning, which is a holiday in multiple states, including Michigan, and dozens of cities and counties throughout the nation.
The Hope College presentations are sponsored by the college’s La Raza Unida student organization, Office of Multicultural Education, and dean for international and multicultural education.
The Maas Center is at 264 Columbia Ave., on Columbia at 11th Street. The Martha Miller Center for Global Communication is at 257 Columbia Ave., at the corner of Columbia Avenue and 10th Street.