today..was fairly awesome
Ok so nevermind the lack of sleep or the really weird dreams that I had with people I haven't seen in ages today was...fairly awesome. The plan for the day was to go to the Cesar Chavez breakfast and as if that wasn't cool enough Ed Begley Jr. was gonna be there. I was like foaming at the mouth ever since I heard he was going to be one of the speakers. I mean celebrating the life of Cesar Chavez was going to be cool enough but to have one of the foremost environmentalists in the country as the guess speaker...priceless!! So we get there and of course theres the usual buffet of Mexican food including: chorizo, chile verde, and pan dulce. For my people who don't get authentic Mexican food you truly missed out and of course how could I forget the frijoles and tortillas. As expected I was waiting for the man to show up thinking he'd be late and be like I dunno..hollywood but he came in and I don't know if it shows on screen but the man is fairly tall.
So whilst we were eating we were serenaded by Lalo and some other mexican singers. We also got a show by the Folklorico from St. Mary's again for my friends who don't have many Mexicans around them you truly missed out. The first speaker was the daughter of farmworkers who actually lived during La Huelga. She spoked poigniantly about how miserable the migrant workers were treated. How they would often toil in the hot sun with no water. How as children whenever a crop duster plane would go by the children would run out in the fields little realizing that they were being showered with powerful pesticides. Often they'd have to go to the bathroom behind a tree because the fields provided little cover. As the descendant of farmworkers and of immigrants I couldn't help but connect with what she was saying. As interesting as I found it of course I couldn't wait for the man of the hour my friend Ed.
He came up and he thanked everyone for having him and he thanked the singers and dancers naming off some of his favorite songs in some not so bad gringo spanish. He then said something that changed my impression of him. " I didn't know Mahatma Ghandi. I didn't know Dr. King. I didn't know Mother Teresa but I did know Cesar Chavez and he was of that ilk" He then went on to how he had known Cesar and his family for many years and their exploits and then something else happened. As he was telling us about a group of children that all got cancer within a two block radius and how it affected one particular family he had to stop and compose himself..the memory too painful to get through. I wont bore you with a lot more details as I intend to post a link to a newspaper article. I can say the talk left me changed.
Here I was expecting some weird goofy guy and maybe thats the way they play him to be on tv but he is in fact a very caring and devoted person to his cause and the cause of those less fortunate than him. As he put it "Live simply so others can simply live" I don't think many people know that even today he is still acitive with the farm workers union and even wrote a play called "Cesar and Ruben" Ruben Salazar for those who don't know was a famous Chicano writer who was killed in the 60's during a riot in LA. Needless to say I got Ed's autograph and that of the other speaker. I also took my picture with him too which I'll post when I have the time. Anyways in closing I ask all of you to think next time you buy grapes or any other kind of produce to think of the workers who picked said product and if they're being treated fairly or not and don't give up the fight to make this world a better place for everyone. In the famous words that every Chicano activist knows "Si se puede!"....Yes we can!!
http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/news/ci_5557986
www.ufw.org
http://www.edbegley.com/