A new mural at South Side Park is telling the story of farm worker advocates who helped shape Sacramento’s South Side community.<\/p>\n
The Indigenous and Chicano mural project, unveiled Sunday, honors local activists and farm labor leaders, including Albert Rojas<\/a> and Larry Itliong.<\/p>\n For their families, the mural is more than a tribute to the past. They say it also empowers workers, families and the community today.<\/p>\n Immersed in dancing and music, a celebration marked the unveiling of the mural at South Side Park. For the first time, Albert Rojas, who fought for farm worker rights for years, is being honored at the park.<\/p>\n “It’s especially emotional for us because this is our barrio. This is where we lived for over 40 years. This is where my father paid property taxes for over 40 years, and right on that stage since 1973, he’s been speaking on that stage regarding the tomato strike out of Yolo County,” Desiree Rojas, Albert Rojas’ daughter, said.<\/p>\n She and Johnny Itliong, whose father is also featured in the mural, remember their fathers working together.<\/p>\n “My father is Larry Itliong. He was the glue that brought everybody together for the great Delano grape strike of 1965. He brought together Al Rojas. His group was the UFW, out of Oxnard,” Itliong said.<\/p>\n Rojas said Richard Alcala dreamed of telling the cultural story of the community and the people who made a difference in Sacramento.<\/p>\n The park was chosen for its historical placement and for the power the mural can channel during what Rojas described as the political climate immigrants are facing.<\/p>\n “The way Richard Acala brought us together through this mural as a community, un pueblo. We are magnified, and that’s our way of saying we are resisting and power to the workers, power to the people, and power to families, and that’s our message today, aqui estamos inonos vamos,” Rojas said.<\/p>\n Rojas also said she and her family appreciate the support they’ve received after her sister publicly denounced Cesar Chavez earlier this year. She supports the Sacramento city staff’s plan to consider a recommendation to rename Cesar Chavez Plaza on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n “The other issue that’s going to be raised is the removal of the statue, which has to be done as of ASAP now, and we need to go back into a place of healing at a larger scale through community. And to and to reassure ourselves as a community that our work will continue,” Rojas said.<\/p>\n The Parks and Community Enrichment Commission will consider the recommendation to rename Cesar Chavez Plaza on Oct. 1. If approved, the proposal will go to the Sacramento City Council for a final decision.<\/p>\n The Rojas family also has the Albert M. Rojas Foundation<\/a>, which carries his vision forward and empowers new generations to continue organizing for justice, dignity, and equality for all.\u00a0<\/p>\n