Cristal Meza
Ms. Knapp
English 1A
May 06,2012
Cesar Chavez: In the Search of Progress
Throughout the years there have been many leaders like Mohandas Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. who have taken a stand for their people because they no longer wanted to be discriminated. Cesar Chavez is now known as an important figure and was also one of the leaders who wanted to see changes made. Chavez started a change during a time when it was revolutionary for Mexican Americans to change their way of life. Many Mexican-Americans went through the same experiences that Chavez had, but he picked it up differently and out of all people he had the unique drive to make a difference for the Mexican American community. Cesar Chavez is an important figure in history whose difficult childhood influenced his social activism, which included uniting all the farm workers into one union currently known as the United Farm Workers (UFW) and providing them with the support by organizing strikes, helping people vote and uniting the community. They were in need of a leader like Chavez to contend for their rights before the agricultural businesses and the United States government.
Cesar Chavez’s childhood was characterized by economic hardship and discrimination, which had an influence on his work as a social activist. On March 31 1927, Cesar Chavez was born. His parents had been born in Mexico but came to California to seek a better life for their children so they lived in their own farm. Chavez’s father Librado ran a pool hall and he also owned a gas station, they were doing well, however this was during The Great Depression in the 1930’s when businesses and banks were not doing well and many people were losing their jobs, but what was more severe for the farm workers was the drought in The Gila River because they needed water for their crops to grow and without it their business would not succeed. Chavez’s father had begun struggling with finances and by 1937 he could no longer pay his taxes, therefore his property was taken from him and his family. Because of this Chavez and his family had to change their lifestyle and become a migrant family because they no longer had somewhere to live. Chavez family had to move from farm to farm and usually had to stay in tents or shacks. Chavez went to school for a couple of months but then would stop going because his family had to move to another farm. In his home he spoke only Spanish but when in school he was forbidden to speak Spanish and if they did they would be punished for doing so, because it was seen as un-american (Holmes).
Furthermore, Chavez’s early experiences as a farm worker caused him to sympathize with farmworkers and defend their rights. Chavez’s lifestyle changed drastically when he and his family and to move from farm to farm to find work in order to at least be able to have enough money to eat each day. He was not at all happy under what living conditions migrant workers had to live in each day. The working conditions for the migrant farmworkers were very unpleasant. This was because much of the time the growers took advantage of the fact that there were many families desperately searching for jobs. They knew they had the opportunity to exploit them by giving long hours, low pay and bad working conditions. Chavez’s family was one example of this when “the first year they picked peas for less than a penny a pound” (Holmes 23). Chavez had a different perspective about being a migrant farmworker since, unlike, most farmworkers he had not lived like that before; he knew the difference unlike people who had been living as migrant farmworkers since they were born. Looking back on his previous economic status, Chavez observed, “We were poor, but we had liberty. The migrant is poor and has no freedom” (Holmes 24). This shows how Chavez felt like he was stripped from his happiness and felt like his life was only going to be about living as a farmworker if he did not make a change.
Chavez also faced racial discrimination during his early teenage years, which strengthened his sense of ethnic identity. As mentioned, he felt he was being discriminated when he was not able to speak Spanish at school because only English was seen as American. However, other experiences had a more profound effect on him than that. When he was a teen he saw the sign “NO DOGS OR MEXICANS ALLOWED” (Holmes 25). This brought him more pain when he actually had an experience while entering a diner that had a sign that said “WHITE TRADE ONLY”. Cesar and his friend didn’t think much of it when they saw the sign but once they entered a woman at the counter asked him “Whats the matter, you can’t read?” (Holmes 26). Chavez said, “it seemed to cut us off the human race” (Holmes 26). Discrimination was happening everywhere from restaurants to shops but it was extremely difficult for Chavez and his peers to make sense of why people where being separated by their color. He was angered that people were being discriminated because of their color and this was an experience that helped him see how society was very judgmental and did not treat people fairly.
Chavez knew he did not want to keep living like this for much longer. He joined the navy when he was seventeen, but the experience did not turn out to be an improvement from his former living conditions (Tejada-Flores np). After two years he was excited to come back home and see his family again. Yet Chavez still recalled the struggle his father had to deal with in order to sustain his family and had also witnessed attempts to form unions but noticed how many of the migrant farmworkers stopped trying because they had no income coming in while they were busy protesting. These experiences gave Chavez an incentive to unite people and fight for a common goal.
In 1952, Chavez met Ross, the founder of the Community Service Organization (CSO). Ross wanted a leader within the Latino community who could speak on the behalf of Mexican American farmworkers because and no one else would be able to describe the difficulties and struggles as precisely as someone like Chavez who had experienced firsthand the life of a farmworker. (“The Fight In The Fields”.) Chavez was a bit uneasy about being part of the CSO because he had seen a quantity of failed attempts of unions formed by the farmworkers and he thought that it was going to be the same deal once again. However, he ended up deciding to work with Ross to gain rights for Mexican American farmworkers. Chavez was in charge of “coordinating voter registration and get-out-the vote drives, leading campaigns against racial and economic discrimination”(The Fight in The Fields) where he would have to move across California to make people aware of the circumstances so they could all join together and form a union to protect workers’ rights. One positive thing about the CSO was that both Ross and Chavez agreed firmly that this would not be a an organization of only men but instead Ross describes it as, “our community was very traditionally father dominated but the CSO became an organization of men and of women and of children” (The Fight in the Fields 39). This demonstrates how Chavez and Ross together changed the status quo by allowing children and women to be able to participate. Chavez did not limit who was able to participate because he knew this was an issue that many had to be involved in since they were also living through it. This made for a much stronger organization because there would be more people in the action.
While working with Fred Ross, Chavez was finally able to have a stable life because he was earning more than he used to as a farmworker. This was quite beneficial to him because he had to provide for his wife Helen as well as his eight children. Even though Chavez was doing well economically the problem was “financial security” and whether or not he wanted to keep it or if he would made a go on his own and set up a union to protect workers rights. On March 31, 1962, the same day as his birthday, Chavez resigned from CSO despite the fact that they defended workers’ rights because their goal was not to make a union. Chavez wanted more for his people and he wanted them to have their rights as they deserved to, so he decided to move to the small town of Delano and work full time on organizing farm workers into a union(“United Farm Workers”). With $1,200 in life savings he founded the National Farm Workers Association (“Farm Workers Association”). Cesar and his family moved to the small town of Delano where the union started with him and his family(“United Farm Workers”). In September 30, 1960 the first NFWA convention was held (“United Farm Workers Chronology”), Chavez’s motto was “Si Se Puede!” (Yes We Can!). In addition to the motto, he wanted a simple logo so it could be recognized but at the same time have it symbolize a strong statement. The black eagle on a white circle in a red field symbolized an importance for the organization. Chavez stated, “A symbol is an important thing. That is why we chose an Aztec eagle. It gives pride...When people see it they know it means dignity”(“United Farm Workers”) “There was no question our dignity meant more than money” This was the reason why Chavez family decided to take the risk for human dignity(“United Farm Workers”). Chavez admired many of the tactics that were used by Ghandi as well as Martin Luther King Jr. because they both demonstrated that they could stand up for their rights without the use of violence. Chavez saw similarities between his people and King’s people’s suffering. He knew that there was a lot of discrimination towards people of color. He understood that leaders like him and King needed to stay strong in order to make a positive change. It was was very intriguing for Chavez to use non-violent actions, but because he had witnessed how there had been many failed attempts to form successful unions whenever they had been put into action, he decided it was best to use a pacifist method.
During these years, it was the best time to for workers to start demanding their rights because it was when the Civil Rights were in the process. Similarly, Filipinos were also dealing with problems involving the labor force, “the AFL-CIO-affiliated Agricultural Workers Organization Committee” (AWOC), were tired of low wages and bad working conditions so they began the 1965 Delano Grape Strike and they asked Chavez for his support to strike with them so they could be a stronger force. Chavez agreed to strike alongside the Filipinos and they fought for their belonged rights for five years and in 1966 they walked a 340 mile-march from Delano to Sacramento(“Chavez Foundation:Delano Strike”). Another action that Chavez took was he started to do fasting strikes for a long period of time. The first fasting was in 1968 when the strike lasted for twenty five days, the second fasting also lasted for twenty five days and the longest fasting was in 1988 for thirty six days. Chavez as well as his followers boycotted to buy grapes until they agreed to California’s Pioneering Farm Labor Law in 1975.
Chavez’s committed through the years to organizing strikes, meeting with people and taking action about organizing a farmworker union. He ended up having a full effect in future farm workers lifestyle and paying off in the end because because they no longer had to live through the humiliation of working for low wages and under bad working conditions. Chavez definitely demonstrated the ability to surpass all obstacles.
Works Cited
Collins, David R. Cesar Chavez. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2005. Print.
Collins, David R. Cesar Chavez. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2005. Print.
Dalton, Frederick John. The Moral Vision of César Chávez. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003. Print.
Schafer, Walter E. Stress Management for Wellness. 4th ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1987. Print.
"UFW: The Official Web Page of the United Farm Workers of America." UFW: The Official Web Page of the United Farm Workers of America. United Farm Workers, 2006. Web. 18 May 2012. <http://www.ufw.org/_page.php?inc=history/07.html>.
"CESAR CHAVEZ FOUNDATION." CESAR CHAVEZ FOUNDATION. Cesar Chavez Foundation, 2012. Web. 05 May 2012. <http://www.chavezfoundation.org/>.
Tejada-Flores, Rick. "Cesar Chavez and the UFW." PBS. PBS, 2004. Web. 23 May 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez.html>.
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