Grand marshal Raulito Navaira (third from front left) joins others carrying a banner to mark the 15th annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice on Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011 as participants made their way along Frio Street. Kin Man Hui/kmhui@express-news.net

                 

Dolores Huerta stands beside a painting of herself at the 15th annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice on Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011. Huerta is the co-founder of United Farm Workers of America with famed labor rights leader Cesar Chavez. Huerta was the keynote speaker at the event. Kin Man Hui/kmhui@express-news.net

                    

Co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America Dolores Huerta addresses marchers at the 15th year of the Cesar Chavez March for Justice on Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011. Huerta touched on issues of education and voter rights. "This march is not an end. This march is a beginning," Huerta said. Kin Man Hui/kmhui@express-news.net

            

Recently re-instated Miss San Antonio Domonique Ramirez participates at the 15th annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice on Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011. Kin Man Hui/kmhui@express-news.net

          

According to SAPD Sgt. Fidel Acosta, about 1,200 to 1,500 people participated in the 15th year of the Cesar Chavez March for Justice on Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011. The march started at Guadalupe Theater and ended at Alamo Plaza. Kin Man Hui/kmhui@express-news.net

              

Araceli Herrera (center) shakes hands with Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers of America with famed labor rights leaders Cesar Chavez, during the 15th annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice on Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011. Herrera belongs to the National Domestic Workers Alliance and wanted to personally meet Huerta along the march. Kin Man Hui/kmhui@express-news.net

    

Artist Abel Ortiz gestures as he carries one of his paintings depicting labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez during the 15th annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice on Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011. Kin Man Hui/kmhui@express-news.net

      

Participants in the Cesar Chavez March for Justice walk over the Guadalupe Street bridge as they make their way toward Alamo Plaza on Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011. This was the 15th year of the event and featured Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America with famed labor and civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez. According to SAPD Sgt. Fidel Acosta about 1,200 to 1,500 people participated in the march. Kin Man Hui/kmhui@express-news.net

By Melissa Ludwig
mludwig@express-news.net 

For Dolores Huerta, the struggle never ends.

In the 1960s, Huerta organized unions and boycotts with César Chávez to demand decent working conditions and wages for farmworkers.

On Saturday, Huerta and about 1,500 fellow activists participated in the César E. Chávez March for Justice. They marched from the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center to the Alamo to show they are still fighting, this time for adequate funding for education and human rights for immigrants.

Immigrants “are used as scapegoats in hateful, racist campaigns,” Huerta said. “We (as a country) say, ‘Come in and help us do our work — then we will kick you out or put you in prison.’”

Dignitaries taking part included Police Chief William McManus, Mayor Julián Castro and Miss San Antonio Domonique Ramirez, who this week emerged victorious from a court battle over her crown.

Wearing an Indian-print headband, Ramirez helped lead the parade with members of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

“My family does this every year,” Ramirez said. “I am just staying involved.”

Imelda DeLeon, 77 and a retired teacher, said Ramirez is quickly becoming a folk hero, due in part to her dogged pursuit of the crown.

“Don’t give up, you will persevere. That resonates with the message here today,” DeLeon said.

Also marching was Claudia Sanchez, a University of Texas at San Antonio student who recently took part in a monthlong fast to pressure Congress to pass the DREAM Act. It would have given undocumented students and soldiers a path to citizenship if they were brought to the U.S. as children.

“We all need to be pitching in to make this country a better place,” Sanchez said.

Local artist Abel Ortiz carried paintings of Chávez to educate tourists on the reason for the march. Not a bad idea, considering the sea of confused faces when the marchers poured into Alamo Plaza.

“We thought they were re-enacting something that happened at the Alamo,” said Erica Nussbaumer, a tourist from Saskatchewan, Canada.