United Farmworkers March with Seth Small

On Sunday, March 31st, Seth Small and I walked down East Salinas' Market Street in support of the United Farm Workers of America's annual march. The march was celebrating the late Cesar Chavez's 92nd birthday, a man who alongside Dolores Huerta cofounded the UFW movement for farm worker's rights and better working conditions. We continued our march down the historic Alisal Street, listening to chants "Si se puede" & "Unite, Unite, Vamos a la Marcha, Unite" and of the like. Along the way we learned that the march is also focused on building support for federal legislation that would provide a legal pathway to citizenship for immigrant farmworkers. Seth Small, an newly minted International Environmental Policy graduate student at Middlebury Institute and member of MIIS Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), knows quite a bit on farm life, having worked in agriculture on both coasts of America. We discussed what's it like to work on a farm, the community and feelings of mutual connection to both the land, nature and people working with you. We also discussed what will be necessary for the future of farming in the United States, what sort of environmental policies that will involve farmworkers input to provide the social aspect of sustainability within our domestic public policy making. Finally we discussed the La Via Campesina movement, local Community Supported Agriculture and how unions can bring people together to create powerful marches and connecting people to community organizations and produce climate & community resilient places to call home. Without further ado, I am very pleased to bring you Seth Small's perspective and thoughts while we marched that beautiful Sunday afternoon with wonderful people that make up the Salinas community. Shout-outs to Salinas Organizations: 1. Building Healthy Communities - East Salinas 2. Immigration Task Force - Monterey County 3. App Notifica - Sends help button to alert key contacts 4. UFW Foundation 5. Assembly Member Robert Rivas - District 30 6. The Food Bank for Monterey County 7. CHISPA - Homeownership Assistance 8. Edible Monterey Bay - Monterey Bay Area CSAs 9. Alisal Vibrancy Plan - Visión Salinas 10. Monterey Bay Economic Partnership