Student leadership preserves Chavez legacy
Speaker, rally, and service project in celebration of Farmer Workers Association
Darwyyn Deyo
Issue date: 4/4/06 Section: News
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The proposed immigration law was a key focus in the group discussion that followed the Social Justice Fair Friday afternoon as students gathered in Campus Ministry. Fortney began by saying of the constant rain, "Well, the farm workers didn't stop working the fields so we shouldn't stop our celebration." Key speakers were Brother Camillus Chavez, Maria Hernandez, and Professor Maria Luis Ruiz, a Spanish professor of the Modern Languages Department. Ruiz began by speaking on Cesar Chavez's slogan, "Si Se Puede." "I would urge you to remember these are not historical or mythic phrases, but a message and a challenge," Ruiz said and reminded students that "we move forward with our studies and our lives but not forgetting where [our community] came from." Partly due to the attendance of only 13 students, the discussion became more student than speech organized.
Finally, on Saturday a group of 85 people went to Alameda Point Collaborative, a location which used to be an army base but has been converted to house the formerly homeless. Volunteers helped with children, worked in the garden where residents work as a community and grow food to sell, or helped organize a tool shed.
Roughly half the APC population is under 22, and seeing volunteers really gives the residents a reason to come out and help as well.
Of the events as a whole, Hernandez said "[they] went well and I think just having a celebration that commemorated Chavez, having been student led, run, and planned, was really good."
Finally, on Saturday a group of 85 people went to Alameda Point Collaborative, a location which used to be an army base but has been converted to house the formerly homeless. Volunteers helped with children, worked in the garden where residents work as a community and grow food to sell, or helped organize a tool shed.
Roughly half the APC population is under 22, and seeing volunteers really gives the residents a reason to come out and help as well.
Of the events as a whole, Hernandez said "[they] went well and I think just having a celebration that commemorated Chavez, having been student led, run, and planned, was really good."