Benavídez continues sticking his neck out
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and in recognition of the inauguration of President Barack Obama, this week’s cover story looks at black-Latino relations in the Central Valley. (The story will be available online and in print on Wednesday.)
The first person I interviewed for the story was Ben Benavídez, the former president of the Mexican American Political Association and a longtime champion of educational and civil rights in the Valley. I spoke with him for about an hour last Tuesday in his Parlier office, which is decorated with plaques, recognitions, framed newspaper articles, and photos of his mentors – people like César Chávez, Jesse Jackson and Dolores Huerta.
As I sat down to write the story, I realized that Benavídez has so much experience working with minority groups to achieve change, and he is so passionate about coalescing to fight for underserved communities, that it would be difficult to reduce all that to a few paragraphs. I did manage to include a few of Benavídez’s quotes in the article, but I’m going to use this blog space to share a little more of what he told me.
We spoke about a week before Fresno’s annual MLK Day march, which Benavídez led for 12 years. He suffered a severe stroke in 1998 and is now unable to participate in the march, but he said he looked forward to attending the event. He said he would be there to “see the glorious faces, the happy faces, because Obama was elected.”
Like many Americans, Benavídez said he has high hopes for Obama’s presidency. He said Obama has a “minority mindset” and a Harvard education, and these factors should allow him to “make the changes that we need right now.” He added, “My God, we hope and pray that Obama will do the things we know he’s capable of.”
Benavídez told me about the organizations and movements he has been a part of. He talked about coalescing with black, white, and Mexican-American families and marching around a police station after a black youth was killed in Tulare. He told me about protesting in the small city of Dinuba to ensure that the minority community had a fair representation on the city’s school boards and other governing bodies.
This interview was the first time I’d met Benavídez, and though his stroke has forced him to walk with a limp and a cane, and though is speech is a little slurred, I could tell I was speaking with a person who’d had an important influence on the Valley. What was truly impressive was how his condition is not stopping him from fighting for the causes he believes in. He continues working with his non-profit, the Coalition of Rural Pueblos Economic Development, and said, “I’ll never quit my coalescing.” He added, “Why in the hell be dumb and not let people use my influence?”
That day, he wore a small, turtle-shaped pin on the lapel of his jacket, and he pointed out the turtle figurines that line his shelves, adding that he has at least 200 more turtles at home. He said he collects turtles because, “I always stuck my neck out.”
It doesn’t look like he’ll stop sticking his neck out anytime soon.
Benadvídez speaking in his office in Parlier. The turtle pin is on his jacket lapel.
