Opinion

Marking historic events of Fresno’s past should not be political nor controversial 

Paul García
Sun, October 20, 2024 at 7:00 AM MDT·4 min read


Dr. Paul García spoke about the birth of the UFW at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the United Farm Workers grape strike at Fresno City College on Aug. 19, 2023.


In September 2023, El Concilio de Fresno successfully petitioned the Fresno City Council to list the site of the first meeting of the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers) on the city’s Register of Historic Resources.

It was 62 years ago that a group of farm workers called together by César Chávez, Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla met at the Edison Social Club located at 1405 E. California Ave. to form an association that would spawn a social movement. Just as The Fresno Bee did not find the inaugural NFWA meeting newsworthy in 1962, nor did it report its commemorative significance in 2023. There was no fanfare or opposition to the recognition. That is as it should be.

Opinion

The memorialization of important events or people in the city of Fresno should not be political or controversial. It should honor historical memory. The placement of monuments, statues, or markers signify the occurrence or existence of something so momentous that it had a lasting impression on our city, state, or nation.

There are markers in Fresno that give distinction to the state’s first community college (Fresno Junior College), an historic minor league baseball field (Chance Field), and a renowned world welterweight champion boxer (Young Corbett III).

Such acknowledgements celebrate an episode or individual in history that should never be forgotten. The markers define and give proper reverence to what is being recognized. The narrative is especially significant because it captures the esteemed essence of an individual and the broader context of the event.

Unfortunately, it is not easy to situate a marker for public display, especially on private property. Installation on a homeowner’s property is cumbersome and costly. Apparently, it is unprecedented. Homeowners must pay city fees for feasibility studies, easements, purchase insurance for the marker, and agree to the upkeep and repair. Some may argue this is a small price to pay to keep alive the convictions, courage and sacrifices demonstrated by laudable deeds. Yet the process discourages the proper memorialization of history. Few may want to engage in such efforts.

Yet imagine a city where pedestrians, bicyclists, and other ordinary citizens can frequent memorials that tell a story of days gone by. One way to educate more citizenry would be to add a QR Code to each marker that digitally links it to more detailed history, significant implications, or deeper perspectives. In times of book suppression and revisionist history that threatens the telling of shameful episodes in American history, the markers can reclaim history for the profound efforts of an obscure individual or group. Memorials benefit the community.

They can establish legitimate claims to the city’s history. Memorials laud profound efforts by those who promoted the American promise, irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender, religion or income.

In some cases, the building or structure that housed the significant event no longer exists. Urban progress or hazardous occupation of the premises may have led to its demolition. In some cases, exuberant repair costs and insurmountable safety codes cannot save the preservation of a cherished school, church, social hall, or business.

This should not detract from the memorialization. It’s not the building that made history, but the people and their noble cause or idea. Deeds cannot be demolished. Markers are meant to tell generational stories known only to a few. The intent is to educate, and consequently connect us to past generations and their worthy accomplishments.

The purpose of memorials is not to incite, but to inspire. The farmworker delegates that met 62 years ago chartered an unprecedented path toward better wages and working conditions.

They met on a Sunday, their only day off during the peak of harvest season. Chávez was able to organize a group of laborers who lived in small isolated rural communities, many had no transportation and spoke only Spanish. They had no experience in forming a union. But Chávez implored them to own their labor and conceive a social movement:

This movement is a drive by the workers themselves to…seek solutions to their problems. It is simply a movement of the farmworker to end all the injustices committed against him…who are strong men and women, who understand that only through their own association will they, as workers, find a solution to the problem.

There are many untold stories in our city’s history that deserve tribute. Memorialization of these stories testify to the rich heritage of Fresno.