UTEP community remembers civil rights leader Cesar Chavez

Being one of the largest Hispanic-majority universities in the United States in one of the largest border cities in the country, celebrating Cesar Chavez is a major event for the University of Texas El Paso’s Chicano Studies program, as shown by their three-month series of events dedicated to the occasion.

“The goals of the event are to raise consciousness about the status and condition of the agricultural workers that put food on our table,” said Dennis Bixler-Marquez, professor and director of the Chicano Studies program. “Also to instill in our university, community and the greater El Paso area, an appreciation of the legacy of Cesar Chavez as a civil rights leader and an advocate for human rights.”

Chavez, a Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, now known as the United Farm Workers (UFW) in 1966. Chavez and his unionist non-violent methods were popular with American labor activists. After his death in 1993, he became an icon for union laborers. Chavez’s birthday, March 31, has been made a state holiday in Texas and California, and is an optional holiday in Arizona and Colorado.

“I do think Cesar Chavez Day is an important event for our culture so we know who we are and where we came from,” said Sergio Seley, sophomore history major. “It’s not just a day off. I think it’s important for younger generations to know who he was, what he did and how we should help him with his dream of giving rights to immigrant workers and help with their families who went through all that.”

To celebrate Chavez, the Chicano Studies program has helped in organizing a series of events that will run until May.Bixler-Marquez organizes the UTEP portion of the calendar. Various student organizations such as MEChA and multiple community organizations such as the Centro de Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos, Mercado Mayapan, St. Pius X Parish and a variety of local public and private schools are hosting events and fundraisers.

Events that have already occurred include a car show at Riverside High School, a lecture from Carlos M. Montes of the Southern California Immigration Coalition, a screening of the documentary “Precious Knowledge,” which addresses current civil rights tensions in Arizona, and a farm workers mass at St. Pius, among others.

“The Librotraficante stop in El Paso was most successful and it placed El Paso in the national spotlight,” said Bixler-Marquez. “It featured a caravan of authors and students delivering banned books to Tucson, and it featured local authors, like UTEP’s Ben Saenz, and it involved several UTEP students and alumni at the evening reading at CaféMayapán.”

On March 26, Amnesty International screened the Frontline special “Lost in Detention,” which explores the Obama administration’s controversial choices when it comes to immigration policy. After the film screening, a panel consisting of members from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Border Network of Human Rights, MEChA and former city council member and congressional candidate Beto O’Rourke, answered questions and discussed immigration myths, facts and potential solutions.

“It was a panel where we had an opportunity, and I think the operative word is opportunity, to meet Beto O’Rourke and ask questions in an open environment in a university setting,” said Patrick Rabb, senior double major in Chicano studies and political science. “There were also student organizations represented like MEChA, Los Americas, theLGBT organizations as well, and so it seemed like something you’d want to be a part of because you had more opportunities than you would in a class where you’re just listening to a lecture.”

Rabb, who came to El Paso a year ago from South Carolina, said he walked away from the event with a clearer picture of both O’Rourke and border issues. Rabb came to study in El Paso because he believes that all the issues the country has to confront in the near future can be found here in El Paso.

Upcoming events to continue the celebration include the screening of the program “Celebrating Cesar Chavez: Its Message and Impact” March 30 on the monitors of the Liberal Arts and Union East buildings, a march for Chavez March 31 at the Centro de Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos as well as a rally for the International Peasant’s Day of Struggle April 17.

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