Movie Mañana

Text and photographs by Jesús Manuel Mena Garza

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Copyright 2014 Jesús Manuel Mena Garza. All rights reserved.

Tomorrow is a big day. A movie about César Chávez will be shown across the USA. I feel it will be a great teaching tool. An opportunity to explore the transcendent nature of the UFW movement and its charismatic leader. For many of my generation, Chávez was a source of inspiration. Living in San José I had many opportunities to meet the soft-spoken leader. His modest dress and easy going manner made him approachable. 

He often asked the community to help his fledgling union. College campuses were an especially fertile ground for his message. Many Chicana and Chicano students at SJSU came from the Central Valley, from towns like Fresno, Modesto and Bakersfield. You have to also remember that before there was a Silicon Valley, San José was called the Garden City. 

My Tejano parents, brothers and sisters worked the farms of the region since the 40's. My family picked fruits, nuts and vegetables throughout the year. So did I. This UFW cause was not some abstract or esoteric movement to us. I feel this new film is an opportunity to witness the hardscrabble farmworker experience. To learn about a man and his union. To see how we fought against entrenched commercial interests, ignorance and racism. I will be at a Fort Worth theater tomorrow with others to see our history revealed. I can't wait.

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