Copyright for the photographs in the archive was deeded to UCLA. The bulk of images digitized from the archive have been published by UCLA under a CC-BY 4.0 license. (Wikicommons)
Just one day ahead of Cesar Chavez’s birthday on March 31, the Cesar Chavez Commemorative Committee San Fernando Valley (CCCCSFV) is holding a march and rally in Pacoima to not only honor the late labor leader and civil rights activist but also to protest President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies.
The 32nd Annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice is scheduled for March 30 at Pacoima Charter Elementary School at 10 a.m., from there they’ll march to Ritchie Valens Park. Keynote speakers include Congresswoman Luz Rivas, State Sen. Caroline Menjivar, Assemblywoman Celeste Rodriguez, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez.
Alex Reza, a longstanding committee member, said that their highest turnout has been 2,500 people, and they’re hoping to attract even more people this year to show just how outraged the community is against Trump. He described the current administration as “tyrannical.”
“No political leader in the history of our country has trampled on the Constitution the way he is,” Reza said. “He’s ignoring basic constitutional principles that our country has relied on for over 200 years, and he doesn’t seem to care about those principles.
“He thinks he should be able to do anything he wants, even abusing the human rights of people.”
Reza points to Trump’s revival of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – a wartime law that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation – as justification for targeting immigrants with mass deportations. Only three other times has the United States invoked the act, the last time being during World War II for the mass incarceration of 100,000 Japanese Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Years later, in 1988 the U.S. apologized and paid reparations to those who were unjustly interned.
Yet, Trump has made cuts to the oversight offices of the Department of Homeland Security and, without due process, used the Act to deport 238 Venezuelans under the guise that they were Tren de Aragua gang members. They were flown not to their home country but to a prison in El Salvador notorious for its harsh conditions.
“We are not at war with Venezuela,” said Reza.
The protest, Reza said, is also against the tremendous wealth and power being concentrated in the hands of a few. He pointed to billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg attending Trump’s second inauguration. Trump’s cabinet is the wealthiest in history, with 13 billionaires taking positions within his administration.
“We are not anywhere near a democracy where we have that type of economic power merging with political power,” said Reza. “That is an alarming situation that all of us should be outraged about.”
The march has been ongoing since 1993, the same year the labor leader passed. The march first began in the City of San Fernando but moved to its present location after the small town required large fees.
The march is intended to honor and take inspiration from the Chavez legacy, but to this day he is still controversial and criticized for his use of the term “wetbacks” decades ago and his initial objections to undocumented workers.
That wasn’t the case, Reza explained. Cesar Chavez was against undocumented workers being used as strikebreakers when the United Farm Workers (UFW) was organizing for better working conditions. Many people with the union were living in abject poverty, so Cesar Chavez “did not approve” of how undocumented workers were being used against them. The UFW would later encourage them to join the union.
Looking at present day and the march this Sunday, when asked what it means this year, Reza is reminded of a letter written by Cesar Chavez in 1969:
“And while we do not belittle or underestimate our adversaries – for they are the rich and the powerful and they possess the land – we are not afraid nor do we cringe from the confrontation. We welcome it! We have planned for it! We know that our cause is just, that history is a story of social revolution, and that the poor shall inherit the land.”
Reza hopes to continue the spirit of that message with the belief that people showing up en masse can make change.
“Large numbers of people saying this is not right, we will not accept it, that sends a strong message,” Reza said. “And we need that. We need that attitude about injustices right now – more than ever.”