Community Invited to Pilgrimage in Honor of Cesar Chavez

Local leaders, students and residents will come together Saturday to honor civil rights leader Cesar Chavez as part of the 11^th annual Community Pilgrimage, commemorating pilgrimages he made to raise awareness of farm worker struggles.

The event will be led by Andres and Fernando Chavez, grandsons of Cesar Chavez, a coalition of local leaders, parents, students, teachers and community groups.

It is billed by organizers as a pilgrimage and celebration that promotes Chavez’s philosophy of "using one's life to empower others" and bring attention to the injustice of family separation, the need for full immigrant rights, and the need to build unity among diverse communities, organizers said.

Bishop Herbert Wilkins and Danny Romero will lead a 9:30 a.m. ceremony in front of the Pomona Unified School District administrative offices. The group will honor a 300-year old tree, symbolizing respect for the elders and the sacredness of the environment, said organizers with Latino/a Roundtable of the San Gabriel Valley and Pomona Valley.

The Pomona Unified School District’s administrative offices are at 800 South Garey Ave. Following the ceremony, the group will walk to Garey High School where a small tree, representing the youth and the community’s commitment to growth, will be planted and watered, organizers said.

The Son Real Band and Vejar Elementary Ballet Folkorico is among the performers that will be features. Student poets, singers, MEChA members, and other local youth will make presentations.

Food, made by parents and students, will be available for purchase with all the proceeds going to student scholarships, organizers said.

Pomona Unified Serves Diamond Bar. Other organizations scheduled to take part include Cal Poly de Pie, Inland Empire Immigrant Youth Coalition,

Cal Poly Cesar Chavez Center and the  Pitzer College Rural and Urban Social Movements.