\t\t\t\t\tWhat’s at stake?<\/p>\n
At an event celebrating C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez, a labor leader who helped organize farm workers alongside Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla, education leaders from Fresno spoke of the activist\u2019s impact on their lives as well as Fresno.<\/p>\n
Fresno education leaders and community members marched together and celebrated the legacy of activist and labor leader C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s event was organized by El Concilio de Fresno and the Southeast Fresno Community Economic Development Association. Around 40 people started from Farber Educational Campus and marched to the Jr. Exhibits Building inside the Fresno Fairgrounds.<\/p>\n
Sa\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez-Sandoval, president of Fresno State, was one of multiple education leaders who joined the march. Fresno Unified leaders in attendance included Superintendent Misty Her, Carlos Castillo, chief academic officer and Ben Drati, deputy superintendent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I will say this, I would not be here as an immigrant president, were it not for Martin Luther King, Jr. and C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez, so all thanks to \u2018la lucha\u2019 \u2014 to the struggle for civil rights,\u201d said Jim\u00e9nez-Sandoval during the event\u2019s keynote address after the march.<\/p>\n
Jim\u00e9nez-Sandoval explained how Ch\u00e1vez faced discrimination because of his ethnicity, ancestry and language. Jim\u00e9nez-Sandoval shared his story of coming to the Central Valley from Mexico in 1980 as a 10-year-old and facing similar challenges.<\/p>\n
However, the president explained that he found belonging from his father and the work he did.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Since 1951, my father has been working in the fields of central California, I say to myself, \u2018and his hard-earned keep and honest work give me, right here and right now, the right to say: I belong to the valley, and the valley belongs to me,\u2019\u201d Jim\u00e9nez-Sandoval said.<\/p>\n