by miss x
Tuesday, May. 06, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Approximately 200 gathered today in honor of Jose Fernando Pedraza, a Jornalero (day laborer), leader, and friend, who died while defending his right to be a worker in Rancho Cucamonga. March to city hall demanding Pedraza's dying wish, which was a day labor center.
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1 year ago today, a group of Minutemen showed up unannounced to the same corner they had shared with a Yucaipa branch of the KKK just weeks before. The workers there stood there ground, remaining on the same corner they always occupy to look for work. But, at the head of the crowd was the face everyone there knew and loved, a day laborer who was vital in helping to sue the city in years prior forcing the city of Rancho Cucamonga to remove the sign that once banned workers from soliciting work there.
But as Jose Fernando Pedraza held his ground, standing peacefully in the midst of racist hatred, a car approached the intersection was distracted by the Minutemen's protest and swerved out of control, killing Pedraza in front of all of his friends.
Today, approximately 200 people gathered from local unions, day labor centers from Pomona and L.A., students from surrounding colleges, and family of Pedraza all in honor of him and in honor of the legacy which he left behind.
Although the city has still "not found" funding to reopen the day labor center that once existed on Grove and 4th St in Rancho Cucamonga, the demands at minimal to at least respond to 1 year's worth of negotiations to provide a bathroom, a request farmworkers once struggled for in the fields with Cesar Chavez.
Don Jose Fernando Pedraza is remembered for his kind words, his gentle yet persistent manner in demanding justice for him and all day laborers. His legacy continues by demanding this justice for day laborers in Rancho Cucamonga.
A week before his death during English classes on the corner, Fernando once admired a colorful children's book about the Janitor's strike in L.A. called "Si Se Puede". That book now belongs to his granddaughters, and is an excellent excellent of the struggle that he carried in his heart always.
