Artists re-create seminal events from the turbulent decade for Port Huron Project.

By Diane Haithman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 19, 2008
On May 2, 1971, about 200 uniformed police surrounded the perimeter of
Exposition Park while 30-odd plainclothes officers circulated through the
crowd as farm labor

leader César Chávez delivered a brief but impassioned speech decrying the
Vietnam War at a rally sponsored by the People's Coalition for Peace and
Justice.

According to The Times' report, the formidable presence of law enforcement
was perhaps unwarranted: No incidents or arrests were reported at the
gathering, where Chávez's speech was preceded by a memorial service
honoring those killed Vietnam.

At 6 p.m. today in Exposition Park, Chávez's speech will be heard again --
this time delivered by UC San Diego visual arts assistant professor
Ricardo Dominguez. The event most likely won't be patrolled by 230 police
officers. Nor will celebrity activists Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland be
on hand, as they were in 1971.

But the artist responsible for staging the re-creation, Mark Tribe, hopes
that reanimating the words of Chávez almost 40 years later will enable the
Internet generation to experience "what it would feel like to believe you
were part of a movement that would change history."

MORE:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-huron19-2008jul19,0...

NPR:
http://nothing.org/files/KPCC_on_Chavez7.18.08.mov
chavez