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| Julio Gonzales is a featured editorialist from Granite Hills' AP English Language and Composition class. He argues that Cesar Chavez Day should be celebrated more in Porterville. |
A forgotten holiday
Julio Gonzales | 4/8/08 | Opinion
n 1966, Cesar Chavez and a band of strikers embarked on a 340 mile march from Delano, California to the steps of Sacramento to draw attention to the suffering farm workers. As a kid from John J. Doyle Elementary, I was able to enjoy these facts that were fed to me during a ceremony that was dedicated to Mr. Chavez. In sixth grade I was honored to give a speech about this courageous man. However, now that I attend high school, the honoring ceremony is a thing of the past. As stated by Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez is “one of the heroic figures of our time;” therefore, more should be done to celebrate him here in Granite Hills.
Cesar Chavez, a local hero that is known internationally, was not celebrated enough in school on March 31. This year we were lucky enough to have Robert Bustos as a guest speaker in one of the junior AP English classes. However, only a few students were touched by his speech; while most of the school was unaware that an original striker was on campus. For that matter most of the school was unaware that March 31 was Cesar Chavez Day. This year, Cesar Chavez was virtually unheard of amongst the majority of schools population. Granite Hills, having such a large Hispanic population, should have done more to celebrate him.
Cesar Chavez was a local man that has affected the lives of many in California and in the US. He was a local man, who revolutionized the farm working society. He was a local man, who fought for the common man. So why should we just brush him off and not celebrate him? Here in the Valley, he had the biggest impact, so why didn’t we do more to celebrate his success?
Olive Street Elementary is one of the few schools in Porterville to recognize Cesar Chavez as a whole. John J. Doyle, like Granite Hills, has fallen behind the shadows of forgetfulness and stopped celebrating March 31. As Cesar Chavez himself stated, "we need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity." People need to be aware more of their culture and those who affect it. By not celebrating Cesar Chavez Day enough, his hard work and accomplishments start to fade away. We need to revive this figure in a celebration because if we do not, the people that were closely affected by him, who will?
Cesar Chavez’s most famous words were "¡Sí se puede!"(Yes we can). Yes we can have a better celebration on Cesar Chavez Day next year.
We can take various actions to do so. For instance, if we could make room for a “motivational” speaker that most kids just acquiesce in their minds, we could make room for a small ceremony honoring this local hero. We could bring back Robert Bustos to give a speech not only to a class, but to the whole school. If not this, students should have the option to listen to the guest speaker on an optional basis, so that it does not interfere with some of the other kids’ learning. Or this guest speaker can be moved to lunch, so that it does not interfere with anything. We can even go on a smaller scale and just hang posters that show Mr. Chavez’s various accomplishments. We can always say “we could do this or that” but taking it into action would be a bigger accomplishment. Various approaches can be taken, but something does need to be done to fill the school with the name of Cesar Chavez. It does not matter what we do, as long as we do something!
Some may criticize the need for more celebration. Some may say that if we celebrate Cesar Chavez, we need to celebrate other heroes such as Martin Luther King Jr. Cesar Chavez has had bigger impacts locally; therefore, having a celebration for his success should be put as first priority.
Others may say that Cesar Chavez has nothing to do with their lives, so they should not celebrate his day. His impact is important to everyone; his success has caused for more sanitary fruit products. Also, his impacts have affected so many, that he cannot go unheard.
Cesar Chavez Day needs to be revived in our school. If we do not revive it, most of the school will be ignorant on his accomplishments. His day cannot continue to be kept under the shadows. As a community that has been closely affected by Cesar Chavez’s accomplishments, more appreciation should be showed. Because if we don’t remember him, will the next generation remember him?
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