A More Perfect Union By Cesar Chabama Analysis

In his first large protest, Cesar went on a long march. When reflecting upon the march Chavez remarked that, “We marched alone at the beginning, but today, we count men of all creeds, nationalities, and occupations in number.” (Chavez, 2) From the very beginning, Chavez brought groups of people together by uniting his small group of protesters with a group of Filipino strikers to create the United Farm Workers. Uniting his group of protesters with the group of striking Filipino workers allowed the protest to become bigger, and therefore more successful. The large numbers also attracted more attention from the media. By uniting groups of strikers, Chavez created a strong protest organization that lasts even today. Another essential group of people Chavez got to join his cause were the consumers. Chavez and his partner Dolores Huerta once wrote, “We called upon our fellow men, and were answered by consumers.” (Chavez, Huerta, 1) Consumers helped the protest by participating in a grape boycott, and did not buy grapes until the grape workers’ needs were met. With this boycott, Chavez tried to weaken the business of the grape growers until they complied, and it worked. When thousands of citizens would not by grapes, the media covered the issue. Through the media coverage, the boycott spread rapidly, uniting people from all over the United States. With the popularity of the boycott, the protest evolved into not just a protest, but a civil rights

On March 18, 2008, Barack Obama gave a speech addressing racial issues facing America, as well as the reason behind his candidacy. Cesar Chavez, in his speech on November 9, 1984, dissucessed the discriminatory conditions being faced by Hispanics, mainly farm workers, of America. He also includes his plans meant for improving the lives of Hispanics across the nation. Barack Obama, the speaker of "A More Perfect Union" and Cesar Chavez, the speaker of "What the future holds for Farmworkers and Hispanics" present arguments housing claims, reasoning, evidence, rhetorical appeals/devices, and structure, creating similarities and differences amongst the speeches altering the effectiveness of their

In response to the controversial sermon given by his pastor and the racial remarks that followed him during his 2008 campaign, then Senator Barack Obama, was inherently forced into delivering a speech that would address the comments and prove to the American people that he did in fact shared their “American Dream” and was not an Anti-America charity case. Obama gave his famous “A More Perfect Union” speech in Philadelphia, where he seized the opportunity to address the controversy as an indication of a much larger issue, race relations in America and introduce his mission of moving the country toward “a more perfect union.” His speech often coined, “the Race Speech”, had several factors play into its success, one factor being the way the speech was delivered, his speech incorporated the jeremiad form and constitutive form of rhetoric, the use of those two forms helped Obama address the issue while at the same time creating an identity that would encompass all Americans who would then come together in this identity and work toward the solution of the race issue and providing the “American Dream” for everyone.

To make nonviolence the more logical option, Chavez implements logos and leads readers to believe that violence takes too many sacrifices. After identifying the advantages of nonviolence, he gives the readers two possible conclusions to make about the brutal opposite: “either the violence will be escalated and there will be many injuries and perhaps deaths on both sides, or there will be total demoralization of the workers” (Chavez). Presenting these two unfavorable options uses the logos appeal and persuades the audience to see nonviolence as the more reasonable choice with more promising outcomes. At another point in the article, Chavez tells the audience to simply “examine history” (Chavez). The straightforward statement causes readers to recall violent events of the past and logically recognize them as inferior to the previously mentioned nonviolent protests. This conclusion helps Chavez achieve his purpose by persuading the audience to side with his point of view and support nonviolence. After establishing his argument on sound reasoning, Chavez uses that foundation to employ other rhetorical appeals.

Throughout Chavez’s speech, he uses the rhetorical strategy of logos to provoke farmers and consumers of grapes to join the movement for farmers rights and against rights. For example, when listing facts about the negative effects of pesticides, Chavez states “And a new study shows pesticides used in growing may be responsible for the illness of over 300,000 of the nation's 4 million farm workers.” (Chavez, Wrath

Cesar Chavez, a civil rights leader fighting for improving pay and working conditions of farmers, employs the use of nonviolence resistance in his role as a leader of the United Farm Workers. As a child, Chavez and his family worked as farmers on a field as migrant workers who were most likely treated in an unjust manner and thus, he dedicated his life to improving the conditions for all farmers. To honor Martin Luther King Jr. on the 10th anniversary of his death, Chavez wrote to a religious magazine that helps people in need about the benefits of nonviolent resistance. Throughout his letter, Chavez applies rhetorical devices such as pathos, diction, and juxtaposition to persuade and inform people about how powerful and effective nonviolence techniques can be for civil rights.

To begin, chavez's use of decisive short syntax allows the reader to understand clearly the point that is trying to be made. For instance, line 77 states “People suffer from violence.” Chavez used precise wording so the audience can’t interpret the statement into a different meaning. This enhances what Chavez is saying by implying that violence is unacceptable. Also, Chavez uses,” The poor, the workers” (79). By saying this statement he emphasizes the importance of the words and distinctly points out who is affected by violence. This makes the audience feel a connection with the statement that leads to an understanding. Last, but least, line 78 states “examine history”. This statement tells the audience to look at the past and understand that there is no room for interpretation. The past holds the key to the future, it tells us that nonviolence is the key. The use of decisive short syntax helps Chavez make a point that nonviolence is the key otherwise people

In Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union”, he emphasizes the importance of unity among Americans. He wants people to overlook their ethnic backgrounds and join together as one. This speech brought out many points that Americans should take into consideration. That even though we are all from different backgrounds, we should overlook our differences to make us a stronger nation. Obama’s speech was inspiring in some aspects, but in a way his speech also is controversial.

Cesar Chavez, a labor leader and civil rights activist, wrote an article that discusses his strong stand on how using nonviolent resistance is the better way to go rather than using violent acts. Inspired by the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Chavez writes an article about his argument on nonviolent resistance; he accomplishes that by using rhetorical choice like allusions, pathos, and tone.

Last week I attended the Forum on Government and Public Policy featuring Chuck Raasch, author of Imperfect Union: A Father’s Search for His Son in the Aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg that was held at the Lewis Auditorium. I enjoyed listening to his lecture about his book and his passion for history. Raasch believes that in his mind, the Battle of Gettysburg is the biggest human made disaster, and he explained he felt the need to write his book because he wanted readers to understand the eternal aftermath of war. Imperfect Union revolves around a father, Sam Wilkeson, who lost his son, Bayard, on his first day of battle in the Battle of Gettysburg. After his son’s death, Sam Wilkeson wrote one of the most impactful reports in U.S. history

To prove this, Chavez actually went out, and asked people door to door what conditions were they working in and what do they want (Tavaana.org 2016). This is ridiculous, who actually goes door to door, and asks for everybody’s working conditions and what they want? Although he didn’t do this by himself, this shows he really wants the workers to have a better life, and he works hard so it can come true. He also show perseverance when he walks 400 miles from Delano to Sacramento in 25 days (P.L Shelton 2004). This dude is crazy, he actually walked from Delano to Sacramento for a cause. Many people would’ve just quit, I would’ve quit after ten miles. But this shows real perseverance, he’s willing to do anything for the workers, and even gained 10,000 supporters. As we already know, Chavez had a very limited education. But even after dropping out of school, he still was learning more things every single day. He had many books on philosophy and he would read these books every day (United Farm Workers 2016). This shows true perseverance, he would still read even with his limited education, he was learning more and more each day, that’s true perseverance. Chavez was a hard worker and showed a lot of courage by

Cesar Chavez once explained the horrors of society when he said, “When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering and caring for is family, the whole community of man is sick.” (ufw.org) That means that the whole of humanity is sick and cruel when the man who works the fields all day long to feed the all of the citizens of the entire world can’t even provide for himself. It was not a small amount of people it affected, it was millions, and millions of citizens across the world. Chavez was a large factor in beginning to abolish racism, or also called the Civil Rights Movement.

When Daniel Alejandrez was a young boy, he noticed his father bowing his head to a superior and thought to himself that he would never do that. The reason behind this was anger. Fast forward to around the age of seventeen, he and a few fellow coworkers had noticed that they were being paid four times less than his older coworkers who were using machines and not their bare hands. On the radio, a voice called “You must organize. You must seek justice. You must ask for better wages.” The voice was Cesar Chavez. With this quote in mind, he and his coworkers went on strike against the contractor and they raised the wages from $1.65 to $1.95. The point was not to raise wages, but to call attention to the unfair treatment that they were enduring.

“When victory comes through violence, it is a victory with strings attached.” (Prompt) is a quote that eloquently summarizes what Cesar Chavez believed in and wrote about. He felt that with violence there was too much injury and death, and those were the strings attached to violent victories. Chavez advocated for nonviolent resistance, and provided a strong argument. He used pathos to present readers with thoughts that were intended to tug on their heartstrings. Chavez also used allusion when he spoke of other strong speakers for nonviolent resistance, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the events on “Bloody Sunday”, Obama gave a speech filled with encouraging words about how far American has come. Throughout his speech he included various pathos examples. For instance, he states, “[…] All of us need to recognize, as they did, that change depends on our actions, our attitudes, the things we teach our children. And if we make such effort, no matter how hard it may seem, laws can be passed, and consciences can be stirred, and consensus can be built” (Obama). He addresses the people as one, as if each and every one of us has as much responsibility as the next, and rightfully so. Ethos is another rhetoric analysis, it defines someone’s character or identity and Obama does just that when he says, “[…] who serve in elected office from small towns to big cities; from Congressional Black Caucus to the Oval office” (Obama). Obama refers to himself when speaking about the oval office because he was the first African American to be elected president, which is him talking about his own credentials.