El Centro celebrates Cesar Chavez Day

Calexico Neighborhood House celebrated the birth and legacy of civil rights and labor movement activist Cesar Chavez on Thursday evening with a film and talk at the Carmen Durazo Cultural Arts Center in Calexico.

Event organizer Ivan Soto said, “The film is highlighting the UFW’s, the United Farm Workers grape strikes of the 1970s.”

Soto said Chavez’s work is relevant in today’s political climate.

“A lot of the uneasiness and the resistance that’s going on in a lot of movements. And, we can see that with the UFW and their collaboration with other groups, civil rights groups, human rights groups, and relate that to what we’re seeing not just in our community but nationally,” Soto said.

On Friday, Martha Ulloa, the daughter and curator of late Chicano artist Domingo Ulloa, said her father and Chavez were friends.

“What they have in common is the farm labor and how my father drew a lot of his farm workers and all that,” Ulloa said.

Domingo Ulloa’s work was showcased at El Centro’s first Cesar Chavez Day celebration at the cultural center, previously known as the Old Post Office Pavilion.

“He was named father of Chicano art by the state assembly of California back in 1993. This is all the artwork that I have. I also have prints and I also have woodcuts,” Ulloa said.

On Saturday, a Brawley group held an all-day event of music with a car show in honor of the son of migrants who fought for the rights of farm workers.

Cesar Chavez was born March 31st in Yuma, Arizona, and passed away on April 23rd in San Luis, Arizona. He was 66 years old at the time of his death.