Rally For Cesar

Although Cesar Chavez's birthday isn't until tomorrow, commemoration got started a little early here in Oakland with a rally in front of city hall in support of making March 31 a national holiday in his honor. Your exclusive photos:

I didn't catch much of the proceedings, but the speakers seemed to be mainly high school students, organized through BAMN ("The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, & Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary").

It's nice to see teenagers mobilizing like this. As far as BAMN goes, they deserve credit as well, but I have to say: back in the day (around about 209 when they were just "The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary") they did not seem well-organized, and I remember people complaining about them co-opting the work of others and being more of a detriment than a help. Hopefully, things have changed, but regardless, they're out there putting in an effort, and so thanks and appreciation are in order.

To help support the movement to recognize Chavez with a national holiday, you can sign this online petition, or attend any number of rallies taking place near you (here's a partial list). The Bay Area isn't done yet, either, and it looks like there are pretty big plans in San Francisco.

As with many of our announcements, this is definitely last-minute, but the links above offer plenty of in-roads to get involved in the future.