March 25, 2009 Breaking the Barriers Six weeks of celebration seeks to bring diverse community together. By Chalan Harper - Colorado Hometown Newspapers
In years past, the six-week-long Cesar Chavez celebrations in Lafayette have not showed signs of slowing down and it seems this year will be no different.
Chavez, a Latino civil rights leader who died in 1993, is known for bringing together laborers in what has been called the country’s first successful farm workers union. His motto was “Sí se puede,” or, “It can be done.”
This year, celebrations of Chavez’s life, motto and message will be conducted in a variety of forms, from poetry readings to story-telling to mural paintings and even a 40-day fast.
Daniel Escalante, organizer of the fast, said 40 days without eating was too much for most people, and the fast is broken up into shifts of about two days.
Because the interest in the fast has exploded this year, several people are currently fasting for two days each, and then the torch is passed on to the next volunteer.
“It’s a really good vehicle to get the word out (about Cesar Chavez),” said Teri Davis-Padilla, the celebrations’ marketing coordinator. “People say: ‘Why are you fasting? I don’t get it,’ and (the volunteers) have to go into the story a little bit more. “It’s a really good way for people to understand a little more deeply the work (Chavez did),” Davis-Padilla said.
In the past, some have questioned the wisdom of a six-week celebration of the civil rights leader when the city does not conduct an annual Fourth of July celebration. Davis-Padilla this week said that the length of the celebration, and innumerable events included, are meant to foster understanding.
“In Lafayette, I feel like it’s a strong 50-50 Latino and, predominantly, white community, and I feel like the necessity of having a really lengthy event that revolves around Latino issues is really important,” she said. “I feel, in some ways, the (Latinos) are an invisible society in Lafayette and, especially over the last few years, the immersion is happening.
“The communities want to reach out to each other and communicate about these issues — people are really ready to come together and appreciate each other’s cultures without feeling threatened. I feel like the time is now,” Davis-Padilla added.
Events will take place through April 26.
The local celebration of Chavez’s life is in its sixth year, and it has grown to be one of the biggest in the state.
Aztec Dancers lead the 2008 Seeds for Justice March
Boulder Daily Camera March 22, 2009 By Amy Bounds
LAFAYETTE, Colo. — Leaders from nonprofit groups, schools and businesses have come together to organize a six-week celebration in honor of Cesar Chavez’s fight for social justice.
Poetry readings, a community mural project, Boulder Pride “talking circles” and a youth service day are just a few of the events scheduled in the coming weeks as part of the sixth-annual celebration.
“It’s truly grassroots,” said Elaina Verveer, one of the organizers. “It really is aimed to build community among east Boulder County’s diverse populations.”
She’s working on a Chavez birthday celebration at Pioneer Elementary organized by the Lafayette Youth Advisory Committee and a Latino teen dance put together by Centaurus High School students. Project Yes, a local youth program, also is organizing the Seeds of Justice March on April 3 — what would have been Chavez’s 82nd birthday.
“This celebration is an opportunity to really engage young people,” Verveer said. “It’s nice for Latino youth to learn that there is an individual who should be emulated for his work around non-violence and justice.”
New this year is a 40-day community fast, organized by Lafayette Cesar Chavez Celebration chairman Daniel Escalante and the Latino Boys Leadership Group at Angevine Middle School.
Escalante said Chavez was known for fasting to bring attention to the plight of farmworkers and re-commit himself to non-violence. At the end of a 36-day fast by Chavez, others began fasting in solidarity — giving Escalante the idea for a community fast.
Like Chavez, he said, participants can use fasting to connect with those around the world going hungry.
“We are all related and some of us are more fortunate than others,” he said. “Sometimes, we all forget that.”
He hoped to recruit 20 people to commit to fasting two days each, taking the fast through the 40 day celebration. So far, he said, about 60 people are participating, with more signing on each day.
Fasters are asked to commit to whatever is most important to them, from the environment to racism to health care. Escalante, after hearing from several people who wanted to fast but couldn’t because of health issues, focused on helping people heal.
While most communities celebrate Chavez’s birthday with a single event, such as a rally, Lafayette is unique in organizing six weeks of diverse events.
“We didn’t want to make it a one day event,” Escalante said. “We wanted people to think about Cesar Chavez, what he stood for and what we’re still facing, for longer than just one day.”
