Close to 100 people march through downtown Watsonville Saturday in the 32nd annual Watsonville Peace and Unity March. Staged in Romo Park, the four-hour event featured speakers, information tables, traditional Aztec dances by the White Hawk Dancers, and altars for those lost to street violence. Now California’s oldest peace march, the event honors loved ones lost to gang and domestic violence. It was created by Luis Alejo, Felipe Hernandez and 15 other young people from the Watsonville Brown Berets and other community leaders in 1994. Their grassroots reaction came after the shooting deaths of Jessica Cortez, 9, and her 16-year-old brother, Jorge in Pajaro. Alejo, now a Monterey County Supervisor, and Hernandez, a Santa Cruz County Supervisor, continue to head up the event while joined by scores of family members of area victims of violence. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)
