Chavez Lubbock Commemoration Committee honors and celebrates this great American hero in Lubbock, TX, and, strives to build awareness about his and that of the farmworkers of the USA. Chavez People’s March and Celebration, which has been held 12 years - 13 years will be achieved this year on Saturday, March 31, 2012. The event is organized by a citizen driven committee, and the march attracts peop
le from all backgrounds and helps build public awareness about Chavez’s legacy. Locally, the event was first organized by Irma Guerrero. After her death in 2005, Christy Martinez-Garcia assumed the role as the chair of the annual event. Martinez-Garcia tenaciously led the effort to rename Canyon Lake Drive, a park road that winds from North to East Lubbock along the Canyon Lake system, after Chavez. The street after Chavez that was achieved in 2008 despite much resistance from all but one city council member, Councilwoman Linda DeLeon. She served as the council representative for District 1, the area where the street would be located, giving her full support and assistance to the effort. Many individuals assisted from children to college students, to civil rights, to church leaders, helped in the efforts. Annually, the committe has worked to bring awareness of Chavez. In 2006, Martinez-Garcia invited and hosted the brother of Chavez - Richard of Bakersfield, Calif., who also made time to speak to Cavazos and O.L. Slaton Junior High School students and other students in the Lubbock area prior to the memorial march to honor the work of his brother, who died in 1993. Chavez's significance and impact goes beyond any one cause or struggle. The son of migrant laborers, Chavez led a nonviolent boycott against California grape growers, protesting poor working conditions and the use of pesticides harmful to farm workers. He is recognized for his non violent approach to handling adversity, and even fasted to call attention to the migrant workers' cause. Although his dramatic act did little to solve the immediate harms, it increased public awareness of the problem. The boycott was finally successful in winning new rights for workers.
