During his years as an activist, Cesar Chavez adopted nonviolent means to bring light to the harsh conditions that many farmworkers lived through day-to-day during the 1960s.
As a labor leader, Chavez led marches, called for boycotts, went on various hunger strikes and eventually formed the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers.
To this day, Chavez has been honored for his social change and activism, his dedication to help farmworkers, and in general, has been a symbol of integrity among the Latinx/Chicanx community.
“Cesar Chavez represents many things, including social change and the struggle for labor rights of farmworkers. So, honoring Cesar Chavez is important because of the work and activism that brought international attention to serious issues affecting farmworkers in California,” Dr. Xamuel Bañales, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies, said.
He also added that it is important to keep honoring Chavez because the “Mexican/Mexican-American/Chicanx population, whom he generally represented, is often not recognized or valued for their historical and contemporary contributions.”
“Finally, I think we have a lot to learn from his activist methods of nonviolence, especially given the recent context of youth who are fighting for gun control,” Dr. Bañales added. 
For Janneth Rodriguez (senior, Psychology), having a day dedicated to a figure like Chavez means that it is also important to give light to other individuals who helped with Chavez’s movement, such as Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong.
“Larry Itliong is just one that is particularly never mentioned in history books or in the conversations around this celebration. There were two movements going on with the Filipino farmworkers that boycotted grapes and the movement with Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez. They did meet in the middle to form this labor union, so it’s very important to recognize the existence of both parties because there’s a lot of strength in the unity of all races,” Rodriguez said.
According to Capital Public Radio, Itliong worked very close to Chavez and led marches and boycotts together in order to advocate for better wages and protections for farmworkers in the 70s.
In fact, last year Governor Jerry Brown issued a proclamation to dedicate Oct. 25 as “Larry Itliong Day” in the state of California.
Moreover, Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers with Chavez. She has since remained an activist for farmworkers’ rights, immigrant’s rights and women’s rights, as well as an activist who fought against discrimination.
“Fortunately, Huerta is starting to receive more recognition such as through the documentary film that honors her life and legacy that was released recently (this screened on campus this past Tuesday),” Bañales said.
Gloria Vallin (senior, Biology/Communication Studies), who is the publicist for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan (MEChA), said that it was important for her that Huerta’s documentary was screened during Women’s History Month in order to give light to her accomplishments and her leadership and advocacy in society.
“I remember seeing the Dolores documentary in Fresno last year when it first came out. That’s when it hit me, she hasn’t been represented that well like Cesar Chavez. Everyone assumes Cesar Chavez has done the majority of the work, but it’s like she was a helping hand,” Vallin said. “I wanted to bring light to her and it was a perfect opportunity since it was Women’s [History] Month.”
Because today is dedicated to Chavez and his movement and accomplishments, don’t forget that next to him were people like Huerta and Itliong who fought for social change as well.
According to Bañales, this day, and the person mainly celebrated, should resonate with people as something that “reminds society of a history of oppression of farmworkers in California, the majority who were of Mexican/Mexican-American/Chicanx and Filipinx backgrounds. The legacy of Cesar Chavez also reminds us how we need to continue to challenge oppression and work to transform society for the greater good.”