‘Chavistas’ hear rousing call from playwright on Trump and the arts

Famed Latino playwright and film director Luis Valdez helped celebrate the legacy of Cesar Chavez at an annual breakfast Friday with hundreds of San Diego students, including many who expressed concerns about political tensions these days.

The annual breakfast celebrates 35 Cesar Chavez Service Clubs, mostly within the San Diego Unified School District, which engage members in community service activities and teach values promoted by the late farmworker advocate.

About 1,000 students known as “Chavistas” are members of the clubs, which focus on 10 values: service, sacrifice, helping the most needy, determination, nonviolence, tolerance, respect, celebrating culture, knowledge and innovation.

While the overall tone of the breakfast was hopeful and positive, there also was an undercurrent of anxiety over President Donald Trump’s attitude and policies toward immigration, Mexican Americans and Muslims. Some attending the eighth annual Las Mañanitas Breakfast at the San Diego Convention Center said they knew of Latino and Muslim students and adults who were afraid to leave their home except to go to school or work because of fears of immigration raids.

A satirical skit inspired by a Valdez play also touched on the anxiety faced by Mexican Americans. Valdez himself took a shot at President Donald Trump in a talk he gave via Skype from Los Angeles, where he is recovering from an illness.

“It is significant that this bogus President Trump has set out to destroy the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities,” he said, referring to proposed federal budget cuts. “He knows very well that the way to undermine democracy is by cutting the voice of the people directly.”

Valdez, considered to be the founder of Chicano theater, wrote the play “Zoot Suit” and directed the movie “La Bamba.” Recalling how Cesar Chavez said working for social justice will take more than one generation, Valdez told students that they must be ready to pick up the fight.

“I can’t think of any way more directly to continue the struggle than through the arts,” he said. “The arts appeal to the human heart, and it’s through the heart that we get to the mind.”

Linda LeGrette, who co-founded Cesar Chavez Clubs with her husband, Carlos, said the clubs are introducing new curriculum that deals with contemporary issues and the anxiety some Latino and Muslim students are facing.

“Since election day, we’ve been having conversations with students about how they’re feeling, and what I’ve learned from our kids is they’re resilient,” she said. “They’re strong, and they will rise above all this stuff. But it doesn’t take away from the fear and anxiety.”

LeGrette said some students have written letters to President Trump and have talked with their own families about their rights and the importance of registering to vote and being civic-minded.

“It’s relevant because what’s happening in the world today,” she said.

Andrew Sanchez, 27, works as a manager for clubs at five San Diego Unified School District campuses and said he’s been talking with students about fears some of them have about immigration raids and deportation.

“I teach them my experiences,” said Sanchez, who saw his mother arrested by immigration officers at his home when he was 15. She was deported, but returned a few months later.

“Their emotions might be low, so I guide them and say, ‘It’s OK, you’re parents are going to be safe,’” he said. “’This is just an obstacle you have to overcome. It’ll pass, and hopefully it’ll work out.’”

Sanchez said he also tells students that as they become more involved with their communities, they may grow up and work for immigration reform.

Fifty club members from middle schools are making a trip to Washington, D.C., on Monday as part of the organization’s effort to exposure students to how the government works and encourage them to become more involved.

Lillian Shallow, president of the club at San Diego High School, is going on the trip as a chaperone to 25 Wilson Middle School students.

“I think a lot of people in the immigrant community have fear because of all the rhetoric that’s being spoken without actually knowing what the policies are and how’d they’d be affected by them,” she said. “I think that’s something really dangerous.”

Besides sight-seeing on the trip, she said she hopes students also will get a chance to meet with some elected officials.

Jacob Dadmun, vice president of the Cesar Chavez Service Club at San Diego High, also said he has noticed many Latino students who are anxious. He said a robo-call that announced an immigration forum at Roosevelt Middle School, which his brother attends, included a message that there would be no agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement present.

“You have to tell middle-school students that there won’t be a threat of being deported if they go to school,” he said. “It was really shocking.”

A video played during the breakfast featured several students saying what they liked most about the clubs. One boy said he learned violence leads to more violence, while peace leads to peacefulness and organizing.

Director Macedonio Artega Jr. of the theater group Izcalli presented a skit based on Valdez’s play “Los Banditos” during the breakfast. One of the characters was someone from the Trump administration who was shown three models of Mexican Americans because she was looking to buy one.

“Is she economical?” the character from the administration asked after being shown a farmworker model.

“Economical?” another character said. “You’re looking at the Volkswagen of Mexicans.” The character also said that at at the end of the season, “This model has been programmed to go back to Mexico to work on building the wall.”