Cesar Chavez Day in Sacramento
03.31.2021 | “No more kids in cages! No more adults in cages! Free them all!” chants the crowd at today’s Cesar Chavez Day & Anti-ICE protest in the California State Capitol.
Today is Cesar Chavez Day, and in Sacramento protesters are celebrating his legacy of activism by participating in an Anti-ICE demonstration. Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) was an American labor leader, civil rights leader, activist, and organizer who worked tirelessly for the rights of immigrant laborers, Latin Americans, and agricultural workers (1).
In remembrance of Chavez’s legacy, activists came out today in support of immigrants in the U.S., particularly in opposition to ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement). “Kids in cages” refers to ICE’s infamously inhumane program of family separation that leaves children locked in detainment centers without their parents. Additionally, multiple whistleblower complaints have been filed testifying that ICE has forcibly sterilized immigrant women (2). This falls under the United Nations definition of genocide (4).
A member of the crowd used a megaphone to speak to the racial division in the United States.
“It isn’t brown against black, black against white, it isn’t any of that- it’s us against blue”. He continued to speak to the idea that the racial divide is fostered and designed to divide the common people when in reality it is authoritarian governmental practices that are our enemy.
Another speaker ends her speech with “The power of the people is greater than the people in power!”.
The protest circled from Cesar Chavez Plaza to State Capitol Building to the John Moss Federal Building, which quietly houses ICE operations in Sacramento (3). At the John Moss Federal Building, chalk is brought out to leave non-permanent messages in opposition to ICE and its policies. Police were out in high numbers, but mostly directed traffic; one bicycle riding officer verbally harassed a few protesters, but no physical violence took place.
1 ufw.org/research/history/story-cesar-chavez/
2 npr.org/2020/09/18/914465793/ice-a-whistleblower-and-forced-sterilization
3 justice.gov/eoir/sacramento-immigration-court
4 www.un.org/en/genocideprevention
