Former Chair of Chicano & Latino Studies shares memories of civil rights activist Cesar Chavez

Every year at this time, José F. Moreno’s mind drifts back to the day he met Cesar Chavez, whose birthday is celebrated nationally on March 31.

It was an afternoon on the campus of UC Irvine in 1991 and Chavez, the legendary labor leader and civil rights activist, was scheduled to speak at a Cinco de Mayo event. Moreno was a 19-year-old MEChA student and the club had invited Chavez.

“He was one of us. He represented us,” said Moreno, former chair of the Department of Chicano & Latino Studies at Cal State Long Beach. “He spoke of solidarity. He spoke of struggle. He spoke of the indelible spirit to be fully human. He spoke about us.”

Chavez’s speech that day inspired Moreno to finish his undergraduate degree and pursue graduate studies at Harvard University, become a college professor and run for office.

“Cesar’s self-determined spirit and words were always an inspiring echo that guided so many of us,” Moreno said.

In 2016, Moreno was elected a councilman for the city of Anaheim, and since 2018, has continued to serve in City Council. He said his swearing in ceremony was attended by hundreds of local residents – many hotel and retail workers, immigrant families and high school students “who had fought hard to win representation on our Council.”

Moreno said that day in 1991 is when “we mattered. Our voice mattered. One of ours mattered. I remembered. We remembered what Cesar once told us: ‘It was never about the lettuce. It was always about the people.’”

Former Cal State Long Beach retired lecturer Armando Vazquez-Ramos called Chavez “the only iconic Chicano role model, whose legacy reflects a peaceful revolutionary, a tenacious fighter for justice and a flawed by saint-like leader worthy of a national holiday recognition.”

Hector Infante contributed to this story.

Illustration by Jorge Hurtado.