Denver workers honor Cesar Chavez with annual march
Ramon Del Castillo has been marching the same route from Regis University to Cesar Chavez Park every spring for a long time.
He is one of the co-founders of the Cesar Chavez Peace and Justice Committee in Denver.
"This is the 23rd annual march in celebration to honor the tradition and legacy of Cesar Estrada Chavez," Del Castillo explained while marching on Saturday.
He says they have been doing this every year for more than two decades to teach people about the Chicano civil rights leader they may have never heard of.
"Our history books don't teach about him," said Del Castillo. "They don't want to teach you about somebody who really took on the establishment. They would rather teach about leaders that really didn't make an impact. He was talking about dealing with labor and the function that labor played in building our society."
Chavez fought for and won rights for farm workers from Colorado to California. He was also an advocate for collective bargaining and unions.
Edgar Jauregui is literally following in Chavez's footsteps.
"This fight is never ending," said Jauregui. "He started it, and we want to continue."
Jauregui is a member of the Colorado Carpenters Union Local 555. He says this country has a long way to go to take care of the people who are the backbone of this nation.
"We need a change. The rights of the workers, benefits, they need to get paid on time, they need to have a good space to work," said Jauregui.
Del Castillo says as we all work to create a better society, we would be wise to remember the lessons Chavez taught us.
"We want people to understand that Chavez had three goals. He wanted to establish a union for people that had been abandoned by law. He believed that the only effective way of creating social change was to bring nonviolence. And his third point was that he believed in building a culture of peace," said Del Castillo.
The march was preceded by a mass at Regis University and followed by a celebration at Cesar Chavez Park.
