Sacramento State students united with labor unions, community organizations and community members to make Saturday’s 14th annual Cesar Chavez march a success.  

The march, started in 2000 by the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, honors the Cesar Chavez holiday and creates unity among the Sacramento community while bringing attention to the working class struggles.

Cesar Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded two organizations that protect farm worker’s rights, the National Farm Workers Association and United Farm Workers Union.

Sociology and ethnic studies major Rodolfo Rodriguez, who has been a part of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement Executive Board for two years, said Sac State students played an active part in organizing the march.

“Many of LCLAA’s members are Sac State students,” Rodriguez said. “They have put in a lot of work to organize the march along with other student organizations like Students for Quality Education and Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán.”

Rodriguez said members were involved in three committees. The first was the planning committee, which began meeting in mid-January to decide on slogans and messages the march would focus towards.

As part of the outreach committee, students recruited politicians, unions and other Sacramento community organizations to be a part of the march and speak about any issues within their districts.

Students also played a major role in the security committee by supervising to ensure a peaceful march.

“The march was a great opportunity for students to get a better sense of what is going on in their society with issues like public education, immigration and even wage gaps,” Rodriguez said. “It is a vehicle to get everyone’s points across. The issues brought up during the march reflected Sacramento as a whole.”

Some  issues brought up by the community included the separation of families through deportation, the privatized detention center conditions for undocumented people, recent closures of low income schools, the move toward charter schools and the importance of having a living wage.

During the march, participants yelled out slogans and held signs saying “keep public education strong by stopping privatization,”  “stop deportations,” “tax the rich” and “fight for a living union wage.”

Communication and ethnic studies major Erica Zamora said she marched in representation for Sac State’s Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán club.

“The march gave every student an opportunity to voice their own message, some even yelled concerns on fracking  in Sacramento,” Vanora said. “As part of MECHA,  we marched to bring awareness to the lack of diversity on campus and to help end the attack on ethnic studies departments.”

Zamora said Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán, also known as MECHA, has participated and helped organize almost every march since it started in 2000.

This year, club members posted and handed out flyers on campus and in surrounding communities. MECHA also attended Cesar Chavez meetings held by the planning committee to help with ideas on slogans and messages.

Criminal justice major Brian Ibarra also participated in the march and was a part of  Labor Council for Latin American Advancement’s planning committee.

“So far, I have participated in three Cesar Chavez marches to be a part of a solution and to support the principles that I believe in,” Ibarra said. “This year, I was able to play a role in helping organize the event by passing out flyers, giving radio announcements and presenting to organizations on and off campus.”

 Ibarra said every year he marches, he learns something new about his community and gains a sense of accomplishment.

“This year I learned about the closure of dozens of schools in low income areas and about night raids done by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that separate many families,” Ibarra said. “I would absolutely advise any fellow students to participate not only in  this march, but any other to voice their opinion and gain an exciting experience.”