Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Eleventh César Chávez March

Today San Antonio held its eleventh annual César Chávez March. The weather was BEAUTIFUL -- a VERY pleasant change from the frequent rain of March. Indeed, as the rain fell yesterday the old record for March precipitation in S.A. fell. And the annual Mule Relays at Alamo Heights High School got cancelled.

Indeed, the recent torrential weather apparently kept the number of marchers down from what it was last year. This was despite the day of the march (today) being just as perfect a day for marching the three miles from Guadalupe Plaza to The Alamo. Before the march commenced a la una de la tarde (1:00 PM) there were two hours of speeches, VIP introductions, singing an dancing in Guadalupe Plaza. This location isn't una plaza or a square in the usual sense, because no streets lead in or out of it. It's an open space between Guadalupe Street and El Paso Street, across the latter from Guadalupe Church. A statue of Ignacio Zaragoza faces the church at the north entrance to the plaza. Zaragoza was the Texas-born Mexican general who defeated the vastly-superior invading French army at Puebla on 5 May A.D. 1863 -- the origin of la celebración del cinco de mayo.

The César Chávez March for Justice and Peace was supposed to commence at 1:00, but the first units -- a trio of folclórico dancers in Aztec costumes, and a large banner identifying the march, among other vanguard elements -- didn't move out onto Guadalupe Street eastbound until about 1:20. ¡No problema! En San Antonio como en toda la América Latina, es muy de moda llegar tarde o comenzar tarde. (In S.A., as in Latin America, it's quite fashionable to be late in arriving or starting.)

Once the march was under way it proceeded steadily toward its finish point at Alamo Plaza. Along the way at various points folk along the side of the march route were giving out free chilled bottles of water for us thirsty marchers. Alas! there surely weren't such roadside refreshment points for those who marched from Delano to Sacramento, California, during the famous march for farmworkers' rights that Chávez staged back in the Sixties.

As we walked over the Guadalupe street overpass/bridge above the railroad tracks and Alazan Creek -- which actually had water running vigorously down it due to our recent heavy rains -- I admired the new banners attached to the light poles. With bright colors these presented motifs from chicano culture, such as el nopal (the prickly-pear cactus), the head of Our Lady of Guadalupe, el gallo (the rooster) and indigenous people as portrayed in ancient Mexican codices. I also admired the skyline of downtown San Antonio nearby to the northeast, brightly visible in the clear air against the blue sky. As a Fiesta song declares, «¡San Antonio, te quiero!»

To which I might add, «César Chávez, te admiro por tu lucha para los derechos del pueblo común, que salió de tu fe cristiana.» That is, I admire Chavez because his leadership in the struggle for right for the common man came out of his deep and lively Christian faith. In this way, he was much like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Because of the faith foundation for César's struggle for human rights, it's most appropriate that there be a major march in his memory (encouraging the continuation of that struggle 'til the goal be accomplished) here in this city, which also has a Christian faith foundation -- in the mission that was the very beginning of permanent habitation along the banks of the San Antonio River near its headwaters!

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