In Rancho Cucamonga, day laborers, students, and community-based organizations will commemorate the life of Fernando Pedraza, a father – a grandfather – a day laborer leader who had won a court case allowing day laborers to gather on the corner — who died seven years ago when he stood alongside other day laborers – like any other day – waiting for a job. Little did they know that the Minute Men would use this day – Cinco de Mayo – as a day to protest the Rancho Cucamonga day laborers. On any other day, the workers would have been gone by noon – but because of the Minute Men presence – they stayed on. An auto collision in this intersection resulted in the death of our brother Fernando. He died at a time when he had been advocating to the Rancho Cucamonga city council for a day labor center. The Memorial and Celebration, that remembers Fernando and all day laborers and workers who have sacrificed so much in their lives, will take place on Thursday, May 5 at 10 A. M. at the Arrow and Grove corner where Fernando looked for work each day — and where day laborers still congregate to search for jobs.
Jose Zapata Calderon