Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma, Arizona, to Mexican parents that were poor migrant farm workers. Chavez and his family eventually moved to California during the great depression and jumped around from farm to farm as the seasons went.
What was wrong:
As with all minorities, Latin Americans faced systemic oppression in the formal sector. They were denied the right to unionize, which was a right that white Americans were granted. One effect of this was that the growers were allowed to command as they pleased because the government would only check if someone made a fuss, and at the time the inability to unionize prevented Latin Americans from fighting against the oppression. The growers created strict backbreaking hours with very little rest. Apart from the physical backbreaking harm caused by the stressful labor, the huge load of pesticides sprayed in the plants was toxic to the farmers and ignored by the growers. The workers normally lived in tiny metal shacks with no plumbing or electricity paying roughly 2 dollars per day which to most people seems like an insignificant amount, but when compared to that of a grape picker's salary (90 cents per hr and 10 cents extra per basket picked), you can see how the workers are in a constant cycle of lack of well being as well as financial instability placing them well below the poverty line. There was also a lack of real education as regions of farm workers went to severely underfunded schools and often dropped out to help their parents, giving them no options to seek out a higher education that would propel them above poverty.
The movement:
Cesar Chavez's main goal was to get rid of the unfair laws that made farm workers seem like insignificant tools. He created the National farm workers association (NFWA) to help him realize this dream. One of the first events that sparked the movement was the Agricultural workers organizing committee (AWOC) (Which happened to be predominantly Filipino) that went on strike in September of 1965. They were demanding to be paid a mear dollar and 40 cents per hr. For the next two years strikes spread across the country which eventually leads to Chavez motivating strike of producing grapes in the summer of 1967. Severely hurting the grape industry. They pressured supermarket chains to not buy grapes for example.
Strategies:
Cesar Chavez was greatly influenced by Gandhi and the very recent Martin Luther King lead nonviolent movement. He wanted to use those effective strategies to publicize his movement and grow it beyond just the farm workers. When growers like the Delano family put up picket fences and police with pesticide spray dogs and physical attacks by standing outside of them to remind them that they were not going anywhere and at the same time being publicized through the news spreading the movement. He also insisted in the use of nonviolent strategies such as strikes and marches. The most famous march is the march from Delano to Sacramento California. It was a 340-mile walk that grew to almost 8,000 workers and supporters. This was no longer a small time local movement but a national stand against the systemic oppression.
How it affects me and other Latinos today:
Although the movement was not an instant amazing success. His small victories have to lead to greater victories since. With the combined effects of both the farmer movement as well as the African American movement, civil rights in the US have become standard. Although still not completely obeyed, they are in place and people who disobey are now more and more becoming condemned by society proving that we have come along way from where we were. If it weren't for Cesar Chavez's movement I most likely would not be writing this, in fact, I probably would not be attending Los Altos Highschool, but a small school with 40+ kids in one classroom, no air conditioning or electronic in sight. I would stare straight into the eyes of poverty every day. due to the work of Cesar Chavez and others, the definition of American freedom has become clearer than ever and continues on its way to becoming even clearer with the influence of these revolutionary leaders 50+ years from when they happened.
Bibliography:
Mateo, your post was clearly really well researched and helped me gain more insight into exactly why/how Chavez helped start the civil rights movement for Latinos. I know that today though there are still so many problems for farm workers and wanted to know exactly what it was that they are facing. I found that even though it is required by law, many places still don't have real restrooms and if someone tries to complain they run the risk of getting fired. Of course the issue with pesticides is also still one today and another is that farmworkers are frequently abused by their employers verbally and sometimes even sexually. This all came from a story a farm workers told in 2009, not long ago at all. This just went further to show me how huge of a problem there still is for farmworkers today.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://nfwm.org/tag/working-conditions/
Mateo, thank you for the well written and informative article on Chavez and the farm workers movement. Looking at Belen's comment above, I was also interested in looking at how current farm worker's rights are either denied or exploited- and how they are rising up against that adversity. In a 2016 article from Huffington post, itr highlights that the average income for farmworkers is only $12500-14,999 yearly. Many of these workers lack basic health insurance, and report working over 40 hour weeks. However, a group of workers in Florida are pushing back today, in an organization called Coalition of Immokalee WOrkers. They fight, alongside 14 major food retailers, for better pay,require "a zero-tolerance policy on forced labor, child labor, violence and sexual assault and required access to the education". Although Chavez is deceased, his legacy continues to be followed even today.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/farm-workers-conditions-pay_us_571e58fae4b0d912d5ff48d0