On Monday March 31, many in the Latino community and various supporters gathered at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in support for the prominent Latino advocate C’eacute;sar E. Ch’aacute;vez and calling for a national holiday to help secure his legacy among agriculture and Latino workers.

With a good turnout, the gathering was a step for those in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati to join the national event held that evening. Thanks to Latino Student Affairs Office, Northern Kentucky University was the driving force behind the event, along with strong and much appreciated support from many tri-state organizations.

The Northerner had a nice article detailing the occasion, but in reporting the history in the making event, failed to overcome the prejudice that still lingers towards the Latino or other non-Anglo communities.

It was disrespectful and deemed unimportant that the newspaper editors did not realize the blatant misspelling of his name: “Ceasar Chavez” as it appeared throughout the article. It shows lack of knowledge and the need to educate more about Latino history. The misspelling of someone who is very important may not seem that big of a deal, but if this is not corrected, it could lead to the understanding and even more disrespecting of other cultures and groups as acceptable.

The misspelling of C’eacute;sar E. Ch’aacute;vez’s name will not lead to the riots and chaos that the Danish newspaper encountered with the drawings of Muhammad, but it does foretell that even now, we need to pay attention to the little details and learn to respect other cultures.

I know those from the NKU Latino community felt somber and hurt that an event important for us did not require the time and effort of the editors to at least get C’eacute;sar E. Ch’aacute;vez spelled correctly.

It seems funny, that the kids in the picture for the article were able to get their spelling correctly, while those of the Northerner Staff failed to value the effort and time for the Latino community and a great man who can be compared to Martin Luther King, Jr. and even Gandhi.

Pavel Romero NKU Senator President Latino Student Union Secretary Common Ground