GVSU community celebrates life of César Chávez

When Raul Gamez was a child working on a farm with his family in El Cedro, Jalisco, Mexico, he often found himself asking questions like: Why are things the way they are? What if things could be better?

Those questions, along with witnessing and experiencing injustices against migrant farm workers, sparked his lifelong advocacy work. 

Gamez shared his experiences during Grand Valley’s César Chávez celebration on March 22. The event, hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, was held to honor the life of Chávez.

Chávez was a Mexican American laborer and civil rights activist who advocated for farm workers and fought to improve their working conditions. César Chávez Day is celebrated annually on March 31, which also coincides with National Farmworker Awareness Week, held annually from March 25-31.

Thalia Guerra-Flores, assistant director for the Office of Multicultural Affairs, opened the celebration by sharing her own experience growing up with parents who had immigrated to the U.S. and were farmworkers. 

The celebration continued with a performance by Monarcas, a student organization created last fall that performs traditional Mexican folkloric dances to showcase and appreciate Mexican culture.

The event’s keynote speaker, Raul Gamez, is currently a doctoral candidate in higher education at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan, and holds a master's degree in higher education administration from the University of Michigan. Before starting graduate school, Gamez was the migrant youth director with Student Action with Farmworkers and coordinated the Adelante Education Coalition, a statewide coalition in North Carolina advocating for increased access to education. 

Throughout his presentation, titled “Farmworkers Feed the World,” Gamez shared his own experience as an immigrant and farmworker as he educated attendees on the challenges faced by his family as they searched for better opportunities in the U.S., as well as modern-day challenges that migrant farmworkers face.

His message invited attendees into education and advocacy, prompting individuals to ask the question: What needs to be done to turn awareness into advocacy? 

To answer that question, Gamez reflected on the questions he asked as a child. “Even as a little kid, I would always think about these things: Why are things the way they are?” he said. “But when I started to be more engaged in advocacy, learning about César Chávez and all the people that came before us, I knew that things could be better.”

Gamez commended GVSU students for the work they have done and continue to do, noting how important it is for students to create space on college campuses for change to happen. “It’s important to highlight that, because sometimes we might feel so isolated, like it doesn’t matter what we do. But it does,” he reflected. “You don’t have to have the degree, you don’t need to be older for people to listen to you. It starts in college campuses.”