[Larry Rodarte] La Union Civica Americana was created for the community because there was a real need, for attention, in civil rights in this community.

And in 1945, migrants were treated pretty rough.

And so, 11 men came together to fight the plight of the migrant workers here locally who had come to the Saginaw region, for the, picking and the crops and eventually found, work at the Gray Iron Foundry.

But they were treated kind of badly by the farmers and, not only locally here in Saginaw, but on a state level.

So these men really came together to address that problem, to have a voice and send letters out, to the farmers.

On a statewide level, they really wanted to address the problem that was happening to migrants in the state of Michigan.

And as you know, in 1945, civil rights movement hadn't even come into the 60s.

So it was a really rough time, locally, for migrant workers that were coming to work the crops.

There was a shift in the community, where people came together.

I believe, because there was, some really nice events where you can see, a lot of the crowd of the Saginaw Mexican community, they were known as Mexicans in those days, not Hispanic, Latino, but Mexican and, you know, it was really important for the founders, when they came together to make sure that they were propagating our culture and our heritage because it was being lost as the children were assimilating into mainstream here.

And so not only was the language loss, but also many of the traditions, from, you know, the celebrations to the culinary aspect.

And so, you know, they really wanted to make sure that was given attention.

And I think it really brought people together because, it wasn't as big of a population as we have today, of course, but, it was pretty substantial because of the inflight of workers that were coming into the gray iron plant.

The big events that came through with La Union Civica Mexicana was, of course, celebrating the 16th of September.

That was always at the forefront of celebrations even before the Cinco de Mayo, many years later.

The 16th of September was celebrated in grand style.

Where they actually had a big celebration at the Auditorium in downtown Saginaw.

Now, part of the reason why they also formed in 1945 was because they weren't allowed to go into the Auditorium at the Civica.

They couldn't celebrate with the rest of the community, there big event.

Finally they were allowed to celebrate in the Auditorium, and they had their pageant there for the Queens.

And the Queen was the to be the youthful, the face of the Civica in those days.

And, you had six, seven, eight girls vying for Queen.

And it was a big deal in those days.

So we are celebrating that still today.

In 2025, 80 years later.

And, it's important.

It's important to have that individual that represents the Civica.

And, an important endeavor for I think, the community at large, because she's representing, the Hispanic, Mexican Latino community of Saginaw.

And unfortunately, you know, we're living in contentious times.

And so it really is, important that we continue on that road that the founders started by, you know, really promoting our culture and heritage to not only our people, but everybody in the community, the greater community.

To remember that, you know, we are a viable, vibrant community that celebrates our culture and heritage just like everybody else.

One of the highlights of La Union Civica Mexicana was Jimmy Carter's visit.

As stomping for the presidency of the United States in 1976. and Jimmy Carter came and wanted to broadcast to the nation to stomp for the Latino vote.

And he was successful in doing that right here on the grounds of La Union Civica Mexicana.

And so it was really nice because we consider that one of the highlights of our history here at the Civica, that we had actually had, an incoming president.

Two months later, he was elected as the President of the United States.

And that was a big moment for us here in Saginaw.

What we're doing here to keep the culture alive at La Union Civica is we have signature events throughout the year that have, sustained our organization and this historic hall.

And the main one, of course, is the Cinco de Mayo celebration that we have celebrated for the last 46 years in our community.

And, we also have, tamales taste off.

Which really brings a lot of, tamales lovers to our Civica.

And we also have the celebration of Dia de Los Muertos, which has become very popular with the movie Coco.

And we've also had the Adelante Awards, for ten years, where we celebrate the, people who have fallen through the cracks sometimes.

And we want to honor them for their contribution to the Saginaw community.

But also we have the Saginaw Hispanic Hall of Fame for people who have passed on that we feel, didn't get the recognition or do in their lifetime.

So it's really, you know, a combination of celebrating the culture and the heritage, but also the individuals that have made Saginaw so great.

La Union Civica is celebrating 80 years this year, is really a milestone for, I think, our community at large, because I don't see any other organizations outside of Detroit that are in say Lansing or Flint or Pontiac that have, are still in operation, I should say.

And we here at La Civica, have been doing this for a long time.

The hall here was actually built in 1960.

And, you know, so it was 15 years of an organization without a hall, and they raise the funds to actually build this here in an area on the north side of Saginaw.

Where they weren't wanted in those days.

There was actually a signed petition for them.

No people of color were to be, living in this area or having any businesses.

So they had to fight that in terms of civil rights and, they were successful in doing that.

But to me personally, you know, I see that, my grandfather started this with men in 1945 who were relatively new to this country, and they wanted to make their life better here in the Saginaw in the north and in the Michigan region.

And they came as migrant workers and they wanted that better life for their children, their grandchildren.

And I think that with La Union Civica Mexicana, a kind of it means a lot to me because I feel like we this generation and the generation before us, we were the American dream.

We are the ones that they did that for and they, you know, worked so hard and they fought for the civil rights of the Mexican people in this community.

In those days, it was really tough, because even in the local churches, in the Catholic churches, you weren't even allowed to sit in the pews.

You had to stand in the back of the church.

It was those kind of things that they actually ran into when they first came to the Saginaw area.

And so, I feel like our generation, my generation, particularly, we benefited from the hard work of those men who fought for the civil rights of our people.

I would like to see younger people get more involved, to continue on in the legacy of La Union Civica as well as the historic hall here, because we have really benefited as a community.

Every Mexicano, every Hispanic Latino in the Saginaw Great Lakes Bay Region has been affected by this organization, whether they know it or not.

And I think that in these times when we are really put to the test of who we are as a community, I think we're going to need the young people to really step forward.

And I know that their voice is strong.

They participated in the election and were really, you know, had a voice.

And I think that if they utilize that same, power, we can continue on with this organization for another 20 years and mark the 100th anniversary of La Civica.

I want to say, La Union Civica, was formed in 1945 for three reasons.

And I've touched on the civil rights issue because that was a very big.

And like I said, the civil rights movement didn't come until the 60s, although, you know, people were treated badly.

They were very victorious in, winning those rights as minorities in this community.

So the civil rights was the first issue.

The second issue was to promote the Hispanic culture and heritage.

To make sure that our children and their children, continue that and, and kept those traditions and the legacy of their grandparents.

And the third reason was something that, I think we need to do a little bit more work on, and that is educational attainment for our youth.

It seems, at that time, it was very difficult because their children, were Spanish speakers, and that the loss of language came later.

But in 1945, it was difficult for any Mexican, Mexican descendant to, accelerate in the public schools.

And many of them were dropping out, as you know.

And, it wasn't until years later that we, were able to have college educated, individuals.

The first Mexican that graduated here in the Saginaw area was Joseph V. Diaz, who founded La Union Civica with those men.

So it was really something because no other founder graduated.

Anybody who would like to be involved with La Union Civica, we welcome them with open arms, and, they can contact the members.

What we call our all stars.

These are the the board members and some of the people who are really active in the organization.

And they can look at our website at SaginawUnionCivica.com It's really ironic to me, as a member of La Civica today, that the men who started this organization in 1945, 80 years ago.

As we celebrate the 80th year, we're still fighting the same fight.

You know, people of color, Mexicans in this community are getting hit hard with the immigration issue, whether they're legal or not legal.

It's hitting our community hard, and it's organizations like La Civica that we're going to have to, you know, do our due diligence and find out information and how we can help in this issue so that we all can move forward as a country that is going to accept Mexicans and Latinos in a more positive way than they have in the last few years.