Starting in the 1960s, Cesar Chavez helped lead strikes to improve the conditions of farm workers, specifically the grape workers in California. Hispanos Unidos de Guilford sponsored Farm Worker Appreciation Week to celebrate Chavez’s accomplishments and encourage activism for farm workers today. Farm Worker Appreciation Week kicked off on Monday, March 26, with a documentary on the life and works of Cesar Chavez. Chavez’s family lost their farm during the Great Depression and joined migrant workers along the California coast.
After working with organizer Fred Ross in the 1950s, Chavez helped start the organization that would eventually become the United Farm Workers. He fought tirelessly to improve conditions for migrant farm workers for the rest of his life.
Irving Zavaleta-Jimenez, president of Hispanos Unidos de Guilford, hoped the week’s events would be a fitting tribute to Chavez’s life. “I wanted to educate the Guilford community about such an important leader as Cesar Chavez. I hoped to educate the community about this great leader in our community and also an important issue.”
On Tuesday, March 27, the focus of the events shifted away from the specific life of Chavez and to the struggle that the farm workers he advocated for still face today. The night featured Lupe Huitron, a guest speaker from Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF).
Huitron spoke of her experiences both growing up as a farm worker and helping farm workers through SAF. “As a child, I didn’t know there was anything else, it was all I knew,” said Huitron. “Education opened my heart, my mind, my eyes to the injustices we face. Even though they were such a normality, I realized they weren’t a just normality.”
Huitron explains how important it was to her to complete her education. “The more I learn about farm workers, the more I realize I beat some very strong odds. But, I didn’t think of it that way. To me, it was just something I had to do to help my family,” said Huitron.
With SAF, Huitron works on projects such as the campaign for decent housing. According to the NC Farmworker Institute, although “each farmworker’s labor contributes over $12,000 in profits to North Carolina’s economy annually,” the workers themselves are not benefiting, as “nearly five out of 10 North Carolina farmworkers cannot afford enough food for themselves and their families.”
As part of the decent housing campaign, farm workers are asking for locks for their doors, telephones in case of emergencies and enough toilets for the number of people living in the employer-provided housing.
Huitron made sure that Tuesday’s talk was more meaningful than just a list of facts. “The issue of farm workers is alive to me, and it can be alive to you, even if you’re not from a farm worker family. It’s what you choose to do with your time that’s important,” said Huitron.
She explained that the week before Cesar Chavez’s birthday is a “week of action and awareness, celebration not only of his life, but also the work of all the others. This is a really great opportunity to educate others on the conditions of farm workers.”
The Cesar Chavez events ended on Wednesday, March 28, with a video of a play presented by SAF on the conditions of farm workers. Author and director Fausto E. Arellano G. introduced the play.
Zavaleta-Jimenez acted in the play and talked about his experiences presenting it in farm worker camps. “It made me thankful for what I have, and it also made me want to fight for their rights,” he said.
Overall, he found the week’s events a success. “There is always room to improve, but I was pleased with the turn out,” said Zavaleta-Jimenez.