Photo by Ronnie L. Esparza.
Juan Uranga was a farmworker attorney for over 40 years and served as executive director of the Center for Community Advocacy, a farmworker housing advocacy organization in Salinas. Before sitting on a panel for the Zócalo and The James Irvine Foundation event—“‘What Is a Good Job Now?’ In Agriculture”—he joined us in the green room to talk about lawyering, political organizing, and retirement.
What does a regular day look like for you now in retirement?
It depends on the day. I do a lot of work, including chauffeuring my wife, a state senator. When I’m not engaged in her political world, I like to write. I’m writing a story about my experiences here in the Salinas Valley. I play golf. And I really like cooking. Since I’m retired and Anna is still working, I do most of the cooking.
In your over 40 years of work as an attorney, is there something you learned that surprised you?
Coming out of law school, I got here thinking that the law was the ultimate tool in seeking social justice for farmworkers. But I realized that lawyering is not the answer. Lawyering belongs in a toolbox with several other tools, all of which are used to work toward social justice.
Who is your dream dinner guest—dead or alive?
Marshall Ganz and [the late] Jessica Govea [Thorbourne].
Marshall was the lead organizer for the United Farm Workers Union when I first got to Salinas in 1974. And then Jessica was an original member of the executive board of the United Farm Workers Union. They were both brilliant organizers. Marshall is a brilliant technician, but more important than that, he understands the part of the human spirit which is always reaching for a way to make life better for others. Jessica, too, [was] a brilliant technician, who was very reflective and humble at the same time. My wife Anna and I learned about political leadership and political organizing from them. They were the two most important mentors that we have had. And not just politically, but in terms of public service. They taught us so much of what we know about being a political leader for a community and about rallying people to the cause of social justice.
If Marshall and Jessica were coming over for dinner, what would you serve them?
My vision would be to have a nice grilled meal outdoors, sit around the table and enjoy each other’s company, and then at some point, just pick their brains on how they see the country moving forward.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I was confused. I grew up in the barrio in South El Paso. I’m about to turn 76 years old, so I was growing up in the early ’50s, and it’s not like we would sit around the dinner table thinking what the future would hold for us.