Robert Kennedy took on Kern County sheriff

Video excerpt from feature film Cesar's Last Fast: U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy participated in hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Migratory Labor that came to Delano in March 1966 to investigate the Delano Grape Strike. After listening to the Kern County sheriff explain how his deputies arrested peaceful picketers because they were being threatened by struck grape growers, Kennedy suggested, "that the sheriff and the district attorney read the Constitution of the United States." Then the senator visited the Filipino Hall, the union hall, and local picket lines, unequivocally supporting the Latino and Filipino strikers. The next day, a core group of strikers embarked upon their historic 340-mile march or pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento. The United Farm Workers is organizing an all-day celebration of the start of the ’65 Delano walking from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26 outside Delano at the “Forty Acres” complex, now a National Historic Landmark. See: delanograpestrike.org