A march and rally in Pacoima and a Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels are scheduled for Sunday, one day before the state holiday honoring the late labor leader César Chávez.
A rally highlighting the “invaluable contributions of immigrants” is set to begin at 10 a.m. Sunday at Pacoima Charter Elementary School, organizers said. The scheduled speakers include Rep. Luz Rivas, D-North Hollywood, Sen. Caroline Menjivar, D-Panorama City, and Los Angeles City Council members Imelda Padilla and Monica Rodriguez.
The rally will be followed by the two-mile César Chávez March for Justice. Participants will head south on Van Nuys Boulevard to Ritchie Valens Park. A cultural arts festival will be held at the park from noon to 3:30 p.m. with musical presentations by school groups and professional musicians.
The annual Mass honoring Chávez’s memory and legacy will be celebrated in Spanish by Archbishop José H. Gomez, one day before the 98th anniversary of Chávez’s birth.
Farmworkers, including members of the United Farm Workers union that Chávez co-founded in 1962, will participate in the procession down the cathedral’s center aisle before the Mass. Manuel Bernal, president and CEO of the César Chávez Foundation, will speak after communion.
The foundation describes its mission as carrying on Chávez’s “life’s work of uplifting the lives of Latinos and working families by inspiring and transforming communities through social enterprises that address essential human, cultural and community needs.”
The Mass will also reflect on the 60th anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike.
A strike by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, a predominantly Filipino and AFL-CIO-backed labor organization, against table grape growers in the Kern County city about 30 miles north of Bakersfield began on Sept. 8, 1965.
The National Farmworkers Association, the predominately Mexican labor group Chávez founded alongside Dolores Huerta, joined the strike eight days later. The two groups merged in August 1966 to create the United Farm Workers.
The strike and boycott ended in 1970 after 26 table grape growers signed contracts with the UFW.
The 12:30 p.m. Mass will be streamed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/olacathedral.