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Cesar
Chavez festival visits The Beach
By
Andrea Sirhall
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
A
sense of triumph and festival was in the
air this past Wednesday as students gathered
at the Cal State Long Beach Auditorium for
the fifth annual Cesar Chavez Celebration.
Along
with celebrating the influential life of
Cesar Chavez, the celebration also focused
importance on the role education now plays
in the ongoing struggle for equal rights.
The
event began at 11:30 a.m. with a Mariachi-led
march from the MacIntosh Humanities building
down to the University Student Union. From
anywhere on the South Campus, the sizzling
sound of trumpets playing could be heard
wafting through the breeze.
Inside,
despite its low mood lighting, the Beach
Auditorium seemed bright and airy. Yellow
and white flowers and streamers adorned
the walls and stage and contrasted perfectly
with the auditorium's orange chairs. The
décor seemed perfectly indicative
of the California sunshine.
Cesar
Chavez was a founder of the United Farm
Workers union and spent his life working
to preserve the rights of California's migrant
workers. Master of Ceremonies Rafael Gonzalez
worked in the fields as a child and his
parents lived in low-income housing dedicated
by Chavez. By featuring student speakers
whose lives have been influenced by his
work, the celebration was a strong reminder
of the lasting impression Chavez has made
in the South West.
Maria
Elena Chavez, Cesar Chavez's niece, was
a guest speaker at the ceremony. Chavez
was a visual art major at the University
of Southern California. She chose this path
because, during her family's struggle for
Latino rights, there was a strong media
bias against the movement, painting picketers
and boycotters as disturbers of the peace.
Chavez attended USC with the intention of
one day being able to "show the other
voice" of the movement. Chavez commented
that she and her siblings "were registering
voters long before [they] could vote,"
and that typical family outings took them
to picket lines and rallies.
Although
Cesar Chavez was able to affect great change
with only an eighth grade education, Maria
Chavez emphasized how important college
training is, not only as a means of helping
one's community, but also as a way to simply
improve oneself.
"A
college education is a right, not a privilege,"
she said firmly.
A
current issue facing Latinos and other minorities
is the problem of student profiling in middle
schools and in high schools. Chavez said
that, as a student, she and other Latinos
did not hear about Advanced Placement courses
or four-year colleges. Instead, administrators
in their predominately-white school steered
them toward vocational schools and city
colleges. Although this practice is slowly
changing, the means of choosing students
for Advanced Placement and other weighted
courses is still a means of debate, with
some schools such as Wilson High School
beginning to look at PSAT scores as an objective
determining factor.
"It
is the responsibility of those with a college
education to go back and help those who
work with their hands," Chavez quoted
her mother, Dolores Huerta. In this way,
Chavez was acknowledging that the struggle
for equal opportunity and equal rights for
minorities is still continuing. She also
linked the issue of women's rights to the
work of Cesar Chavez, saying that women
played an integral role in the picket lines
and boycotts and were often a voice of reason,
helping to quell violence and keep Cesar
Chavez' dedication to non-violence a reality.
The
Cesar Chavez celebration reinforced the
value of community service and the dedication
to knowledge that CSULB emphasizes in its
curriculum. It also emphasized the continuing
legacy left behind by a great civil rights
leader, Cesar Chavez.
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