Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
The festivities included mariachi music and folkloric dancing alongside history of the labor rights movement.
The sound of mariachi music filled Springfield City Hall on Wednesday, April 1, as the community gathered for a farmworker solidarity celebration.
“I wanted to connect more with my culture,” said 16-year-old guitar player Matteo Martinez Salinas about why he joined Mariachi del Sol, Springfield High School’s mariachi band.
Mariachi is a musical genre traditional to Mexico, which is often played during celebrations. The band was one highlight of the community event, which drew families for an evening of history, cultural presentations and kids’ arts and crafts.
“We are coming together in a good way in community to honor and celebrate the brave and important history of the farmworkers movement and the legacy of thousands of farmworkers and individuals who continue to advocate for the opportunity to live and work with dignity, safety and respect in the United States of America,” said Mindy Linder, community engagement specialist with the Springfield Public Library & History Museum, in opening remarks at the event.
She organized the event with Johanis Tadeo of Springfield Alliance of Equity and Respect and Nancy Bray of Eugene Friends of the Farm Workers, alongside other community organizations.
Mariko Plescia, director of the Community Alliance of Lane County, spoke about the organizing efforts of Filipino and Latino farmworkers that led to the establishment of the United Farm Workers labor union. The union helped transform conditions for farmworkers, including higher pay and work breaks.
“Students, domestic workers and all the folks who participated in the boycott of grapes grown on unjust farms fought so that today we could have better protection as workers and consumers,” Plescia told the group gathered in City Hall.
Plescia acknowledged a recent New York Times article that revealed allegations of sexual violence committed by United Farm Workers co-founder Cesar Chavez.
“This news hit hard, especially for anyone who saw him as a symbol of leadership and resistance to injustice,” Plescia said. “We have an opportunity and a responsibility not to be silent about these revelations or any instance of sexual abuse.”
Plescia said that labor union co-founder Dolores Huerta sharing her experience of abuse “motivates us to speak up, to keep fighting and to pour our energy, admiration and action into our collective movement, rather than any one individual.”
Several community organizations shared information about their groups in the lobby, including Comunidad y Herencia Cultural, Looking Glass Community Services and Plaza de Nuestra Comunidad. Willamette Farm & Food Coalition provided complementary fruit, vegetables and granola bars. Eugene Arte Latino led kids in arts-and-crafts activities.
In City Council chambers, Bray spoke on the history of the farmworker rights movement. She showed a PowerPoint presentation including historic photos, leaflets and posters from the 1960s and 1970s and talked about her involvement in United Farm Workers boycotts, which sought better pay and working conditions for farmworkers.
Bray said photos, flyers, picket signs, buttons and other materials from the Eugene Friends of the Farm Workers movement in the 1970s will be on display at the Springfield History Museum from July to December.
After Bray’s talk, Tadeo presented the Springfield Alliance of Equity and Respect Human Rights Leadership Award to Lupe Andrade, host of Spanish-language radio show La Que Buena.
“This person has shown us what leadership looks like, showing up, speaking up and standing with the community even when it feels scary,” Tadeo said. “Because that’s what courage is, not the absence of fear, but the willingness to keep going in spite of it.”
Andrade, 36, who brought her children to the event, said she immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was 9 years old.
“People like me don’t make it to the radio station, to the Springfield City Hall,” the Springfield resident said. “I’m just so, so grateful, so humble and honored to be able to hold this.”
She thanked Bray for her presentation, saying it was history she didn’t learn in school and that she needed to learn.
“I promise to keep on showing up, speaking up for my community,” Andrade said. “The history that you gave us shows us that if we keep speaking up, we keep showing up, we keep fighting for what is right, together, we definitely can make it happen.”
The event wrapped up with a presentation by folkloric dance group Ballet Folklórico Colibrí.
