BY ARIA SELIGMANN
Latino students from 4J
and UO unite around image
of hero Cesar Chavez.
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Cesar Chavez School
G E N E RA L P RAC T I C E , I N C LU D I N G :
fa m i l y • b u s i n ess • c r i m i n a l l aw
a p p ea l s • i m m i g ra t i o n
Will 4J listen to Latinos?
W
hen the Eugene District 4J School
Board meets Feb. 18 it will hear
recommendations from the school
renaming committee as to which monikers to
place on the marquees of two newly built 4J
schools that will open next September. The
board will also hear from many local citizens
who want a say in naming the new elementary
school to be built next to Patterson
Elementary, which will be fed by students cur-
rently at Patterson and Westmoreland.
The name those citizens want to see embla-
zoned over the doorway is that of Cesar
Chavez, a Mexican-Amerian hero who liber-
ated farmworkers by bringing them recogni-
tion and rights, and founded the United Farm
Workers Union.
Members of the local Latino community
hope that other members of the community
will also show up and lend their support to
what they call “a moment” in a long-awaited
quest for recognition. The meeting will begin
at 7 pm Feb. 18 at 200 N. Monroe St.
“Part of the motivation of some of us is to
see a reflection of our community in Eugene,”
says LCC Diversity Coordinator Jim Garcia, a
member of a community advocacy group
working for the advancement of Latino issues,
including the school naming option.
“The Latino community has always been
here but our sense is that we’ve been made invis-
ible by those who can make us visible,” he says.
Latinos are the largest minority population
in the U.S., in Oregon, and in Lane County,
and people of Spanish descent have been in
this geographic area since the 1500s.
“Cesar Chavez was not a foreigner, but a
Mexican American who fought for this coun-
try and for issues others didn’t want to fight
for,” says Garcia.
Latino students in 4J have also geared up to
advocate for representation in the district.
Last week, members of GANAS, a Latino
student group at Jefferson Middle School, met
with members of UO Latino group MECHA
to discuss what such a name would mean for
them.
“He was a great leader,” said Elizabeth
Sampedro. “He brought recognition to the
farm workers, who worked for so little pay.”
That sentiment is echoed by many stu-
dents, most of whom have had or continue to
have farm workers in their families.
UO student Abel Diaz-Diaz adds,
“Strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers — so
many of the foods we eat come from farm
workers, and not just Latinos, but African
Americans, Chinese, and whites; Chavez
helped all of them.”
“There is no other recognition for Latino
* C O S T- F R E E I N I T I A L C O N S U LTAT I O N S
* H O M E V I S I T S AT YO U R C O N V E N I E N C E
leaders, and we want some recognition for the
work we do,” says eighth-grader Xochitl Soto.
The students add that it is difficult for them
to find representations of themselves in the
local community. When UO student Evelia
Zazueta came to Eugene, she says, “I didn’t
see someone like me in the community, I
didn’t hear anything like me.”
‘Part of the motivation…is
to see a reflection of our
community in Eugene.’
968-0781
J LV O N B O @ M S N . C O M
F O R A N A P P O I N T M E N T, P L E A S E P H O N E :
OR EMAIL:
N I E L S E N
&
S C H U B E R T
Breathtaking
Bold
– Jim Garcia, LCC Diversity Coordinator
The GANAS and MECHA students add
that for younger children, seeing themselves
represented in a school would have a huge im-
pact. “It would make them so proud and they
would tell others,” says Alma Reyes-Guillen,
who intends to address the 4J School Board on
Wednesday. “They could tell stories of Cesar
Chavez and be a part of it. I would be proud to
be in that school.”
“Chavez is a good role model because he
was a leader,” says Garcia. “He was a person
who chose to change the conditions of people
who were not being treated very well in a non-
violent way. He was able to receive support
from people all over the world for his cause.”
Because the Latino community has grown
so much in Oregon and in Lane County in re-
cent years, Garcia adds it’s “a good time to see
this reflection.”
And that growth, he says, is “the basis for
our expression at this point. It’s been bubbling
up for a long time. Whether people are going
to listen to us or not is not our concern any-
more. We’re just keeping it on the front burner
all the time.”
And keeping it positive is important for the
young ones.
“When my step-brother and step-sister
came to Eugene, they asked me, ‘Why are
there no names of Latinos anywhere? Do they
not like us?’” said GANAS student Rayven
Laury.
The students unanimously felt that recog-
nition and representation is of the utmost im-
portance as of now, and the name of leader and
hero Cesar Chavez is the one to begin with.
“You look at his legacy,” says Garcia. “The
kids are able to see what he was trying to do
and what he did. We have schools with names
of people who have owned other people and
who have killed other people and those are
two things we are proud Cesar Chavez never
engaged in.”
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