(KMJ) Fresno – March 31st…a day to remember Cesar E. Chavez with state and local government offices closed Thursday for the holiday celebrating the birthday of the civil rights leader.
Fresno State President Joseph Castro is the grandson of farm workers from Michoacán.
He has his own memories of the iconic leader and shared a time when he met Chavez while as a student at Berkeley – the two were sitting on a bench.
“And he was so kind to allow me to sit with him and to ask him questions – and I remember sharing with him the story of my family, and he said to me ‘I would love for your grandfather and you to come to La Paz’ and so we were able to arrange that visit.” – Fresno State President Joseph Castro.
Cesar Chavez’s son Paul shared his own memories while speaking to students on Wednesday at Fresno State: “President Obama came to La Paz, and in his comments that day – he said that it’s important that the story of my father and the farm worker movement not be a story that talks about Latino history – but that it be celebrated as a part of American history because of the work and the contributions we made.”
In March of 1966, Chavez led striking farm workers on their march from Delano to Sacramento.
They stopped in Fresno, met with Mayor Floyd Hyde at City Hall and held a rally with a thousand people in attendance at the now historic Azteca Theater.
