Panel delves into the life of Cesar Chavez
Co-workers of farm union leader recall experiences during CSUCI discussion
Lupe Anguiano remembers her childhood as harsh and full of injustice. Anguiano attended a segregated school in Oxnard in the mornings and then went to work in the farm fields with her family in the afternoons. She was kicked out of her house by growers many times and worked under some poor conditions.
"Eventually, the sense of indignity led us to appreciate the organizing of farmworkers," said Anguiano, an Oxnard resident who is now a community activist.
Anguiano was one of three panelists who explored the work of Cesar Chavez with the United Farm Workers union and shared their experiences working with him during a discussion Tuesday at CSU Channel Islands.
It was the first in a three-day series of events at the Camarillo university to honor Chavez, whose legacy was celebrated with a state holiday Monday. Born on March 31, 1927, Chavez died of natural causes at 66.
Anguiano said she worked closely with Chavez on empowering farmworkers with nonviolent strategies.
"If you really wanted to be an organizer and wanted to be with Cesar Chavez, you had to get up at 3 in the morning to be part of the decision-making," Anguiano said. "We would show the farmworkers that they had the power to join our strikes and show the growers that they had to pay them a decent wage."
According to panelist Frank Barajas, an associate professor of history at CSUCI, Chavez and his family came to La Colonia in Oxnard in the 1930s to work in the fields.
"Cesar Chavez is so important, not because of the individual himself, but because he represents the voice of the agricultural worker," Barajas said.
Chavez started working as a community organizer in the 1950s for the Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights group. He educated the community about police brutality, immigration issues and employment conditions and urged Mexican Americans to register and vote, Barajas said.
Later, with the help of Dolores Huerta, Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers.
Panelist Barbara Macri-Ortiz, an Oxnard lawyer and activist, said she started working with the UFW in 1967 and later participated in strikes and boycotts to support the rights of farmworkers.
Macri-Ortiz went from accounting jobs in the union to labor organizing and running its legal department.
"In terms of the level of opportunity we had in the union, particularly women in an era dominated by men, if you were willing to do the work, there was so much need that it didn’t matter what you were," Macri-Ortiz said.
Chavez touched the lives of the farmworkers he was struggling for, Macri-Ortiz said.
"Wherever you go and talk to farmworkers who had contact with Cesar, their admiration and their memories are so clear," she said. "This was a very inspiring and charismatic individual."
California’s economy was built around the agricultural industry, and the people who brought that wealth to the state are agricultural workers, Anguiano said.
"There are still a lot of inequities and injustices in the lives of farmworkers," Anguiano said. "Until we recognize and honor their work, things are going to remain the same."
Nelva Centeno, 22, a Spanish major who attended Tuesday’s event, said she can relate to Chavez’s movement because her grandparents and father worked in the fields.
"If it wasn’t for Cesar Chavez, we wouldn’t have any rights for farmworkers," Centeno said. "He is a role model because he fought for what he believed was right for his community."