SAN DIEGO – Maria Isabel Meza was a little nervous about carrying a banner in Saturday’s Cesar Chavez Memorial Parade. She was worried she’d freeze up and stop walking.
She was born a few years after Chavez died, but she’s learning from his legacy the importance of marching and helping others. Chavez’s name comes up frequently at the weekly meetings in the Sherman Heights Community Center of a girls’ group called Las Comadritas.
“They teach you how to be a leader, so the world will be better,” said the 11-year-old girl known among the group as Comadrita Isabel.
Hundreds marched through the streets of Logan Heights Saturday in tribute to Chavez. The 14th annual parade honored the labor leader who was the founder of the United Farm Workers.
Chavez espoused nonviolence, using tactics such as strikes and boycotts to achieve the first industry-wide labor contracts in American agriculture. He died in 1993 at the age of 66 and his birthday, March 31, is a state holiday.
Saturday’s 45-minute procession reflected how large his legacy is in San Diego. The motley collection of youth groups, community organizations, unions, low riders, government workers and cultural groups indicated the different ways people coalesce around Chavez 15 years after his death.
To Johnny Simpson, who marched with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Chavez is a revered labor leader.
“He was a great man, standing up for people who had nothing, trying to give them something,” Simpson said.
Ballet Folklorico Macuilxochitl of National City danced the parade route in vibrant, ruffled dresses. To group members, Chavez represents Latinos, and they participated in the parade to celebrate the culture and heritage they have in common with Chavez.
Genoveva Aguilar said she thought of Chavez “as someone who struggled and someone who succeeded,” and he inspires her to continue organizing her community through Barrios Unidos Hoy Organizados (United Neighborhoods Organized Today).
Aguilar said her group advocates for affordable housing among other things.
“We’re still going through the same struggles as Cesar Chavez (did),” she said.
To the students at Clark Middle School who marched, Chavez is a moral exemplar. They meet as the Cesar Chavez Club four times a week after school to learn about values associated with Chavez.
“We want to support the people who need the most help,” said Adriana Rodriguez, a 13-year-old eighth-grader who’s a member of the club.
They sometimes forgo lunch so they can bag the food for donation to the homeless. It’s a small way of relating to the sacrifice Chavez made during his hunger strikes.
In 1968, Chavez had fasted for 25 days to affirm his movement’s commitment to non-violence. In 1988, he fasted for 36 days to bring attention to how pesticides harmed farm workers and their children.
The parade was sparsely attended, but those who stood on the curbs or looked over their fences at the passing spectacle waved and shouted encouragement.
Some marchers passed out campaign fliers, ads for upcoming cultural events or condoms. Hip-hop radio stations set up tents from which they pumped music from public address systems.
Alan Hernandez, a 12-year-old seventh-grader in the Cesar Chavez Club at Clark, said, “He’s an inspiration to all of us.
Chris Moran: (619) 498-6637; chris.moran@uniontrib.com