Gathering for a ‘Day of Play’ on Cesar Chavez Day (Multimedia)

A mural painted in 2009 by students at Woodrow Wilson High School in Los Angeles’ El Sereno neighborhood. (Haley Winters / Truthdig)

One southern California community celebrated Cesar Chavez day Friday in an unconventional way: by hosting a “Day of Play” for children, veterans, teachers and coaches and engaging in a school beautification project. The holiday, which honors the civil rights and labor movement activist, comes at a particularly poignant time for many immigrants living in fear of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.

Haley Winters, Truthdig’s social media coordinator, went to Woodrow Wilson High School to follow along as members of the local El Sereno community painted a mural, planted trees, built a lily pond and participated in outdoor activities. The “Day of Play” was organized in collaboration with Up2Us, a nonprofit that uses the power of sports to help people overcome trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. Watch video from the “Day of Play” below:

“In a very basic way, Cesar Chavez represents the entire Latino immigrant population. He challenged the idea of what America is and fought for our inclusion,” said Luis Vasquez, a Latino El Sereno native, an Up2Us Sports coach, a veteran and an organizer of the Day of Play.

Check out a multimedia report, created via Evrybit, below:

—Posted by Emma Niles