- 23rd annual Cesar Chavez March and Festival
- promotes awareness for activist Cesar Chavez
- Ended at the Antonio E. Garcia center with a fair and workshop
The 23rd annual Cesar Chavez Festival and March was held on Sat. April 6 to honor the Mexican-American labor activist and leader of the United Farm Workers, Cesar Chavez.
The march started at the corner of Agnes and Port and went down to the St. Joseph Church on 19th St. for a blessing. It ended at the Antonio E. Garcia Arts and Education Center with an educational fair, vendors, food, and music.
“So Cesar Chavez was an activist and he had a voice for the people, for the migrant workers to receive better wages and so that’s what they were out here for today. The union workers were out here today just marching and honoring him and honoring the fact that you know, together, we have a voice, together we can make a difference as a community," march participant Esmeralda Herrera-Teran said.
The march is held annually during the springtime. This year's event ended with an educational fair hosted by the Leadership Corpus Christi Class 52, for immigrant youth at the Antonio E. Garcia Arts and Education Center.
"Today is about the community. Showing our immigrant population, here in Corpus Christi that this immigrant community, that works in our restaurants, builds homes, and goes to our public schools, that there is resources for them here in Corpus Christi that we support them and we care about their professional and educational success," Arturo Lima, Immigration Attorney and member of Leadership Corpus Christi Class 52 said.
The educational fair offered mental health services, educational services, human rights services, family planning services, and more.
"Many of our immigrant community have gone through very traumatic experiences and their journey from their home countries, here. Many of them are victims of crime and trafficking, so they need mental health services...mental health is something that is very important and perhaps a bit not talked about enough in the Latino immigrant community," Lima said.
Many of the attendees from the 23rd annual Cesar Chavez March and Festival, like Esmeralda Herrera-Teran, are passionate about standing up for social justice and honoring Latino civil rights activists, like Cesar Chavez.
"In our march, we had close to one hundred people. And then we had the education fair going on. So, there was a lot of community support today," Herrera-Teran said.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
