Hello, I'm Elizabeth Ruiz.

Welcome to San Antonio files.

The late.

I'm a martinez.

Had close ties to civil rights activist and national labor leader Cesar Chavez, whose legacy lives on in our community.

Jamie Organized citizens and marches and fought for justice well into the last years of his life.

When he passed in 2017, his son Ernest stepped in to much of his father's work, continuing the Cesar Chavez march on the city's west side every year.

Ernest Martinez is our guest today.

And can I call you Ernie?

I know everybody in the community.

Is it Ernie?

Yeah.

So of course.

Well, Ernie, thank you so much for being with us on San Antonio Files to talk about your father's legacy and, of course, the legacy of Cesar Chavez, which he fought to continue.

And now you picked up the torch.

What was it like growing up with Hyman Martinez as your father?

I mean, he was busy, such an activist in our community.

Well, first, thank you for the opportunity to be here with you.

I'm happy to be here.

And yes, I get that question a lot.

You know, that question is very is very special for me because I had the honor, I had a front row seat to the civil rights movement, you know, social actions and things that my father believed in and the movement.

Right.

His mentor, Cesar Chavez, instilled a lot of a lot of values and beliefs and being of service to others.

So growing up, you know, as a kid, when you're growing up, maybe you don't appreciate as you get older, I look back and go, wow, that was an important time.

So I'm sure he told you stories about Cesar Chavez, but how do you know how they met?

Yes.

My father was a young Chicano, up and coming labor leader, at Frederick air conditioning here on the East side.

And his local union said, homie, you need to go see Cesar Chavez.

He's in town over at Mario's restaurant.

I remember Mario's restaurant.

So my dad goes to this meeting.

There's other leaders in the community there, and my father told me that day changed his life.

That message that he shared with the community that day.

My father says, wow, this guy is really doing great things.

So my father fast forward a little bit later, my father got to meet him.

They struck up a friendship and they were lifelong friends up until his passing in 1993.

And, you recently discovered old footage of a very important key visit that has had Chavez made to San Antonio.

Yes, it was 1979.

You know, I'm about ten years old at that time.

And there was it was a very tumultuous time for the farm workers.

And in this box that I found after my dad's passing were a lot of VCR tapes.

But we found an eight millimeter reel, reel to reel film.

Gosh.

And a friend of mine who was in film and went to NYU film school, he said, we got to get this to a professional.

Let's get this to Los.

And I have a friend of mine in Los Angeles can watch the film.

I was like, watch the film was I mean.

I never heard that either.

We didn't know what was going to come out of this film.

And when it came back, lo and behold, it was the visit, the visit to our city in 1979 at the Mexican American Unity Council here on the west side.

And I say it was a tumultuous time.

It was during the Chiquita banana boycott.

So as I was traveling throughout the country sharing his message about the importance of that boycott of the banana.

Yes.

Before that, there was a grape boycott and then the iceberg lettuce boycott.

As a matter of fact, I was at Trinity University in the early 70s and participated in a boycott of the iceberg lettuce which they were serving on campus.

So but this was the ticket of bananas and that the boycotts were about wages.

But not only that, the working conditions of the farm workers, because, you're well, actually, such are Chavez is called the father of environmental justice because they were using toxic herbicides, toxic pesticides in the fields.

And imagine the farmworkers going out there and having to do this.

And so now they're targeting Chucky to Banana.

Cesar Chavez is getting death threats.

Yes.

So in this video, we see bodyguards around here.

Yes.

And there was that death threat.

You know, if you notice at the top of the building there, we saw some some guards at the top looking out for Caesar's life.

Right.

And so, yes, it was about working conditions, right.

They would spray pesticide on the fields and there was a lot of wages.

Just really funny for the dignity of farm workers.

Right?

Because it's like nobody cared about him.

Yeah.

You spray the fields with all these toxic chemicals and and don't think about them, you know, as human beings.

But now let's look at this video.

San Antonio has a rich history when it comes to social justice and civil rights.

While Cesar Chavez made many visits to San Antonio, there was one key meeting that took place here in San Antonio at the Mexican-American Unity Council in 1979.

It was at that meeting that my father, the late Jaime Martinez, introduced us to Chavez, to the community at large.

Leaders from across a community came together to listen to a very important message from Cesar Chavez.

It was during the Chiquita banana boycott that was going on.

And there at that meeting, you had leaders from the the Catholic Church and Father Cheryl Smith, you had young council members and leaders from across the community, the labor union leaders, coming together to hear Cesar's message.

It was a very tumultuous time for the farmworkers during that time period.

But it was at that meeting that sparked the interest of sensor's message and how it resonated with us as a community.

And so that meeting was very important for San Antonio.

Fast forward to today, and we march in the thousands to celebrate an icon and hero in Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

Yeah.

Well, there was tension, but there was excitement when CSR was around.

And I got to tell you that, and the people at the Mexican-American Unity Council were very tight into then County Commissioner Robert Pena, who I helped.

And in voter registration drive, along with Willie Velasquez in Southwest voter registration.

So all of those things were network that were being built up.

But they were we were all connected.

And you know why there was tension?

Because it's the first time that the San Antonio City Council was ruled by a majority of minorities, by Mexican Americans and one African American.

That was six out of 11.

This was a tumultuous time.

Every news media outlet was attacking us.

And that meeting, that mark was coming.

I mean, we were all supportive of whichever direction South Side wanted us to go and stuff like this, obviously.

And, and the movement of trying to raise his presence not only here in Texas, but as I said back then in the 70s of expanding beyond California was so that they had that recognition nationwide and what his plight was, what his direction was in improving the livelihood of our farmworkers and are united and we will continue to fight against injustice.

These are the kinds of jobs.

Now, I was given the honor to introduce everybody that does not need any production.

This is not a Johnny.

He's like a poll worker.

California.

Why is it that these men and women and children.

No one knows how many, like in the United States, but possibly five, 6 million other places than that.

They have a it's terrible conditions and they have this terrible expectation.

I could feel the intensity of the meeting.

I could feel that there was an importance about this meeting, and the place was crowded.

And it wasn't just crowded.

It was tight.

You know, 40 years plus.

I remember the intensity of that room.

Even though the movement is a nonviolent movement, even though it was demonstrate to the whole world that really it is it is the power of nonviolence that will help us and see us through, even though we do that and we have failed time and again when the challenge and when they're asked to meet their social responsibility for workers who have been there serves stand up and say, even though in the most in the most kind way, we need we have special needs, we need to be taken care of.

The power structures, that mentality that centuries, years, hundreds of years, a system gets shut and responds in a blind way.

They strike out those who strike and those who there want to make the change things for the better.

I felt an honor just to be in the room, and I thought for the things that I worry about.

You know, he spoke of those immediate justice concerns that was there.

But I also, was so grateful that the work that he did, he did with a commitment to nonviolence.

Whenever he would come over here, like he did in 77.

Rah rah rah rah rah.

It energized us.

It gave us a new vision.

It gave it excited us about how else can we help improve?

Because what those farm workers wanted, we wanted for our own hand.

They here in San Antonio.

I love it.

The peace sign.

We always like to do that, right?

Oh, yeah.

And he looked like John Lennon.

Now I yes, I knew your dad when?

When I was a reporter a bit.

I didn't remember the John Lennon work.

I you know, that meeting was a gathering, a very special gathering of community leaders, the community at large.

You had the Catholic Church there, and Father Cheryl Smith, who was.

It was an.

Active and activist and leader within the church, the labor leaders, civic groups, organizations.

We had the for the first time, a majority minority city council.

Yes, as Joel did at the, reference there.

I mean, he was part of that part of that for the first time, five Mexican-Americans and one African-American sitting on the city council.

And here comes Cesar Chavez.

You know, that shook up the entire city of San Antonio.

What's going on here?

I mean, some people thought of Cesar Chavez as a communist.

You know, it's unfortunate that he's been labeled so many things that like that.

But what people failed to recognize that he was, he was a champion for the forgotten people.

Farmworkers.

You know, dignity and social justice for the farm workers.

And it was nonviolent.

Nonviolent.

He was speak about that peaceful protests.

And and some people were amazed that he got as far as he did and accomplish as much as he did.

No violence, no violence.

And if you look at the videos online, you hear him speak.

He was not a very boisterous.

And he was he was a very, he was very humble.

But his words had very strong meaning, very profound meanings.

And when he would talk, he would talk about being of service to others.

One of my favorite quote that I love of says at Chavez, he said, we cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community.

Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others for their sakes, and for.

Our own.

So if we could all live by that is right.

Right there says it all about being of service to others.

That's what we that's what we do in the foundation.

That's what our that's what our mission is.

Now, you were not at that 1979.

No, no.

No.

Ten years old.

Yeah.

You're you were too young.

But you did meet him later.

Yes.

Well, you know, I met him at ten and then, of course, from there up until my teenager years in the summertime, my father said, you come with me, we're going to the valley, which says that, like, you know, when you're young, you want to be summertime with your friends.

But I was going marching with the farmworkers as a young boy down in the valley.

And so, yes, I, as I, I remember the first time it really struck me and I was like, it was, I was in I was in the eighth grade.

I must've been about 13, 14 years old, this long trip to the valley.

And up to this moment, I knew who Cecil Chavez was.

My dad always talked about him, but I didn't understand the magnitude and the the the the his his leadership.

What what he meant to the world.

Right.

So we're driving, and I see these people with these flags, like giving direction to my dad at the park.

They were expecting my father.

I'm in the backseat.

My young brothers in the back seat there says, my father.

We're driving up and all of a sudden a rush of reporters go to the passenger side.

Not to my father, but to the.

And I'm like, dad, what are they?

And my dad turns around.

You get a little scolding here for his son.

Were in a zone there and I saw literally.

I mean, it must have been several hundred or more, but I just saw lots of people.

I saw the big trucks with the antennas on top.

I said, there's something going on here right?

That was the moment that it really struck me.

Wow, this is an important man here.

Right?

And is that when when you and your family got to take a picture with you?

Yeah.

So that picture, that family photo was taken.

That was the only family photo I have of all of us together.

My mom, my younger brother Chris, and and, of course, that's that.

Right.

So that's the only I have a lot of picture of my father.

It says that in the Lord is where the in the movement.

But that one picture is the family photo I cherish.

Well, Cesar co-founded what would become the United Farm Workers of America organization with Dolores.

Laura's work that when we talk about Cesar, definitely have to lift up and talk about Dolores Huerta, who, by the way, just turned 95 years old.

Oh, that's wonderful.

And she has come to some of the marches here.

She's she's come to San Antonio.

Her latest visit was, right before Covid.

She came to the center.

So we got a chance to visit with her.

And she was the grand marshal at the third annual Cesar Chavez March for justice in 1999.

Wow.

And so my dad, yeah, he came up with this idea.

Why do we honor the family and the movement by inviting someone from the movement to come down?

It started with the Lords and then later on, Richard Chavez, who designed that beautiful, iconic flag.

So that's right, brother Richard Chavez and of course, Arturo Rodriguez, who took over the farm workers.

Yes, Rita Chavez as a sister.

He would the family would come down.

We continue that tradition to this day.

We had the grand art of this past year where there's, Yeah, Chavez Delgado, who was a granddaughter who was our grand marshal this year.

But, your father is the one who founded the Cesar Chavez March.

When he came back from the funeral, he said, we have to do something to honor.

Since 1997 was the 1st March.

My.

I'll never forget the conversation our father came back from.

If, you know, my mom calls me, says we.

He'll come to the house.

My cooked breakfast for you and your father.

Your father's as rest of the country was feeling down.

And my dad, who was a very boisterous.

He was out there, right?

Yeah.

And for the first time, seeing my father in a very somber mood, very quiet, is just thinking.

And I remember I was on the couch.

He's sitting on the other couch, and he just thinking he was in a state of thought and we have to do something for society here in San Antonio.

Yes.

I had no idea what he meant by that at the at the moment, but he was thinking, this is 1993.

Yes, 97 was the 1st March.

So years of organizing.

And he was still working in the labor movement.

So he was very involved, very busy within his work.

But he was paying attention to that, that idea and thinking how, how can we do this?

And then the march and it was a group, actually a group, my father and several others, a small group of folks that went to Washington, DC, October 12th, 1996.

Coordinated order 96 was a national march for all the entire.

It was the largest march in recent times in DC where you had not just Mexican American, but you had Puerto Ricans.

You had all from all Latinos from all across the country saying, what are we going to do?

And this is 96.

Go back to your communities and let's figure out how we can engage our community.

Everything started the march.

That's that seed planted it.

And that's how that sparked.

Then your father had a fight in getting the Durango street renamed Cesar Chavez Boulevard, and I'm talking about that was a big struggle.

And as my father said, we're going for the whole enchilada, right?

It was like Commerce Street was like, what you, the business community was not happy about it?

No.

They said, let's do a park, let's do we can honor Cesar Chavez, name an alley after him or something.

But, oh, a whole street.

And the fight started with commerce that failed.

Right.

But then your dad didn't give up.

He said, okay, well, let's go to Durango Boulevard and change that name.

Well, people still fought it.

The Conservation Society filed a lawsuit.

They filed a lawsuit.

So there was, it was a lot of back and forth people didn't believe, says I was worthy of a street to be named after after him.

Austin had theirs way before ours.

They did?

Yeah.

And you know, I think what it was and, you know, you're looking back a lot of people didn't understand, says I. Chavez and Dolores Huerta and the movement.

But when you think about the farm workers, they feed.

They feed a nation where no matter what socioeconomic background you come from, we're all fed by farm workers.

Where do you think that produce comes from?

Who picks.

It?

And that was the argument.

Well, since it's not from here.

So why went an honorable wait a minute.

And a lot of our families here in Texas, we come from our roots, go back to the fields.

I've never picked anything.

My father pictures and his grandfather picked watermelons.

And many our families picked cotton come from the fields.

So it was an educational experiment, if you will like trying to get people to understand why our why that we want to have a street named after him.

And but it wasn't until, 2010, under the leadership of Mayor Julian Castro, his last term.

And the other champion was Phillip Cortez.

And I ran into Councilman Cortez at the time.

And he says, we got the numbers.

We got the numbers.

It wasn't unanimous.

Unfortunately, it was a 7 to 4 vote in favor of the street with a few legal battles along the way.

But we had the numbers at City Hall.

Right.

And that took 13 years.

That was a 13 year battle to change a street to honor an icon like.

Your father never gave up.

He was relentless.

Oh my gosh.

Talk about Cesar for the spirit.

Well, yes.

And that came from this to me, this movement.

Yeah.

I do want to make mention, you know, in the early days, when the 1st March happened, the discussions of the street emerged and nobody wanted to touch it at city council.

Yeah.

There was one city councilman at the time.

My father called me, says, and I'm at the office.

He says me, he'll get down to everything with a sense of urgency for my father.

We got to go to City Hall.

We got there going to talk about the street.

I said, what this I mean, this was early on.

I rushed downtown, walk into an empty city hall, chambers, maybe ten people in the chambers, like, what's going on here?

And I tell my father, my father was always counting votes on the city council.

And I said, dad, where are the votes?

He looks at me.

Goes, votes?

You mean vote?

Like singular, right?

He goes, that man up there on the right is going to speak about it today.

I said, dad, that's only one person.

He goes, that's where all battles begin with one.

I'll never forget that moment.

And it was a young Rosa menendez on the city council house who brought it up and that was a spark.

But it took 13 years of of struggle and battle to finally get the street name.

That's.

And then your father passed.

And you, what did you ever think?

Oh my gosh, you know, can I do this?

What do I do now?

Pick up.

But you have picked up the torch and continued the march.

And also this has that Chavez legacy and educational foundation.

Yes.

You know, the one thing that we've been blessed with is support.

The community has embraced this.

So when my dad passed away, there were a lot of questions like, what's next?

My father stayed on the board until his passing, and that was very difficult because, be quite honest, there was no succession planning going on.

My father was and until the end, and we didn't talk about anything else.

And, you know, looking back, you know, it was a little bit of a challenge for me personally.

All of us on the board full time, we work, we have our careers, businesses.

And so for me, I just remember with my father would often remind me, and he says the mission is above any one individual.

The mission is it stay true to La Casa, the spirit of La Casa.

And if you stay true to that, everything will work out.

And that's what's happened.

That's what.

That's what the family has done in California all these years.

Paul Chavez, the son of Cesar Chavez.

When I passed away, that was their guide, right?

What's best for the community?

What can we do to be of service to others?

And so we have stayed true to that.

And yes, it's it's been eight years since his passing.

That's.

Well, thank you for picking up the torch and continuing this.

And because of your father, because of you, the Cesar Chavez legacy continues here in San Antonio.

Thank you.

Ernie, thank you so much for being with us on San Antonio Files.

Thank you for having me here today.

It's been a pleasure to interview with you.

I know you interviewed my father many times, so it's, it's an honor to be here with you this.

And thank you for being with us on San Antonio Files.