A good 125 people, including our core group of peregrinos plus community residents, gathered as we came into Galt late Wednesday afternoon for a great meal at St. Christopher’s’ Catholic Church on Lincoln Way. Marching with us that afternoon were Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson as well as other local elected officials and a delegation of representatives from about 10 unions led by Sacramento Central Labor Council head Bill Camp. Carlos Alcala, a former UFW attorney and strong supporter in Sacramento, presented us with a short-handled hoe given to him years ago by Cesar Chavez. We, in turn, presented the hoe, symbolic of the suffering farm workers still endure, to Mayor Johnson, who carried it as he marched.
Early this morning, after a prayer service at St. Christopher’s, we were joined by 13 state legislators who came over from the Capitol: State Sen. Michael Rubio and Assemblymembers Luis Alejo, Das Williams, Betsy Butler, Roger Hernandez, Richard Pan, Anthony Portantino, Ricardo Lara, Nora Campos, Jim Beall, Victor Manuel Perez and Ben Hueso, as well as former Assemblymember Cindy Montanez. We stopped to introduce all the lawmakers to the marchers. Then we turned over the short-handled hoe that Carlos Alcala had give us Wednesday to Assemblymember Alejo, who carried it as he marched with his colleagues.
We arrived for the lunch break today at New Hope Charter Elementary School in Thornton. All the campus’ 250 students turned out along with their teachers. They carried signs reading, "Si Se Puede!" and shouted the farm worker slogan as we walked in. Deacon Porfirio Cervantes from St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Lodi said a prayer and blessing as we resumed our walk after lunch.
This afternoon we have been joined by Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, who began her activism with our movement as a migrant farm worker in the 1960s. Also with us is Becky Chavez from Sacramento, Cesar Chavez’s niece and daughter of Richard Chavez, Cesar’s younger brother who helped build the United Farm Workers over three decades and who passed away last month. Becky will help us honor her father during the final rally Sunday at the Capitol.
We arrive in the small Sacramento Delta farming town of Walnut Grove at the end of today. On Friday, we come into south Sacramento.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America