On Tuesday, the César E. Chávez Community Action Centers (CCCAC) hosted its annual CHI Day of Celebration in the Student Union with live performances, crafts and free food.
March is San Josè State’s Chávez, Huerta, and Itliong (CHI) month, a month-long celebration and remembrance of the three California labor unionizers.
The action center is a campus organization connecting students with civic engagement and activism opportunities, honoring Chávez, according to the organization’s website.
Angelina Grate, the program specialist for the CCCAC, said the celebrations lasting throughout the month helps students engage with the activists’ work.
“Its a great way for students to learn about their history and see the activism in their current work as students right now,” Grate said.
César E. Chávez, Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong were civil rights era labor activists fighting for fair treatment and labor unions for California farmworkers, according to an article by Humanizing History.
Chávez organized United Farm Workers, fighting for fair treatment and against pesticide exposure. Huerta was co-founder of United Farm Workers and creator of the phrase, “Sí se puede.” Itliong was a leader of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) for Filipino farmworkers, according to an article by the Equal Justice Society.
The CHI day performances included San José based Mariachi Tapatio and Grupo Folklórico Los Laureles and SJSU’s Spartan Mambo and Sparchata.
El Halal Amigos catered taco plates with beans and rice. Mexican drinks, such as horchata and agua fresca were provided by SpartanEats.
Lizbeth Rodriguez, a first-year business administration student, said she felt proud to see the folklórico dance group because she was a part of her high school team.
“It really symbolizes to me that the school cares about everyone’s background … it was a representation of a memory I had,” Rodriguez said.
Balloons in the shape of bundles of grapes hung from the ceiling, representing the Delano Grape Strike and Boycott.
Led by Itliong, Filipino farm workers in vineyards struck against unfair wages and treatment in 1965, according to an article by the National Parks Service.
A tactic to curb strikes that numerous grape growers in Delano used was to hire Mexican American farmworkers to replace Filipino strikers, however, labor unions stood in solidarity, according to the same article.
Pedro Rivas Lopez, business owner of Arte Aqua Viva, led a workshop for students to create their own artwork based on the history of farmworkers, while he painted a farm worker carrying a box of grapes.
Rivas Lopez said he had a personal connection to CHI Day.
“I’m a farm worker so this event is beautiful,” Rivas Lopez said. “I have family who lived in Delano who would pick grapes in those fields.”
Oswaldo Hernandez Campos, an undeclared second-year and member of Service Immigrants Rights and Education Network (SIREN), said current activist groups should honor previous activists.
“Its important to remember how we’ve changed history and keep changing and looking to a better world,” Hernandez Campos said.
