Nagi Daifullah and Juan de la Cruz funerals

People attending the funeral of Juan de la Cruz, Di Giorgio Park, Arvin, CA, 1973. Photo by John Kouns.

On August 15, 1973 United Farm Workers (UFW) picket captain Nagi Daifullah was killed by a Kern County Sheriff’s Department Deputy for his participation in the 1973 California grape strike. Nagi Daifullah tried to run away from Deputy Gilbert Cooper but he was chased down and attacked with a long five-cell metal flashlight.

Marshall Ganz stands behind a police officer at the funeral of Juan de la Cruz, Arvin, CA, 1973. Photo by John Kouns.

The blow to his head severed his spinal cord from his skull. Two deputies then dragged Daifullah sixty feet to a gutter and arrested workers who tried to help him. He died at the age of 24 years old. César Chávez called for a fast and funeral march, but two days later, on August 17, 1973, nonviolent striker Juan de la Cruz was killed on the UFW picket line by a strikebreaker firing from a truck.

Body of Juan de la Cruz resting in a coffin, Arvin, CA, 1973

The body of Juan de la Cruz rests in a coffin at his funeral in Arvin, California on August 21, 1973. César Chávez is visible standing to the left of the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe; Chávez delivered the eulogy at the funeral. More than 5000 people walked in the funeral procession. A mass was held before the procession with Joan Baez and Taj Mahal leading the community in singing songs.

The strikebreakers, Ernest Baclig and Bayani Advincula, were Filipino farm workers from Dalton Anderson Ranch. The strikebreakers and strikers exchanged insults, leading to the strikers throwing rocks at the strikebreakers’ truck. Bayani Advincula then grabbed a .22 caliber rifle and fired into the crowd. Juan de la Cruz saved his wife Maximina’s life by pushing her down to the ground, but he was struck below the heart by one of five bullets fired. He died at the age of 60 years old. Daifullah’s funeral had ten thousand people and de la Cruz’s had six thousand people. After the funerals, César Chávez told the strikers that the Executive Board unanimously voted to suspend the strike and that the strikers’ contracts would be won back through the ballot and boycott. The strikers wanted to continue to fight on the picket line.

A priest leading mass at the funeral of Juan de la Cruz, Di Giorgio Park, Arvin, CA, 1973. Photo by John Kouns.

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