Cesar Chavez And Delano Grape Strike

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.

One of César Chavez's most important and famous strikes was the Delano strike. The Delano strike commenced around 1965 to 1970. Chavez worked with Filipino field workers on the Delano Huelga. While Chavez was in the UFW he asked the whole United States to help because it was everyone's problem not just farm workers. Whenever Chavez would form strikes he would approach workers in a completely legal way to avoid problems. Even though Chavez would led rallies justly police would often harass and arrest strikers so that workers kept working. Chavez told the police the arrest that they made against the labor union workers illegal. Cesar Chavez had so much publicity that senator Robert F. Kennedy went to Delano in 1966 and participated in of a

On the tenth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, Chavez utilizes King’s association with civil rights in order to give foundation to his own words. Chavez knows the anniversary is “...the best possible opportunity to recall the principles with which [their] struggle has grown and matured…” (ln 5-7) because King has values regarding civil rights that are synonymous to his own. Both Chavez and King possess the value that the human life is special and no one has the right to take it away. By referring to a well-known, wildly respected, and successful leader with a similar cause, Chavez has ensured that the audience will be receptive to his message that the use of nonviolence is a better solution to a problem than violence. A later reference to Gandhi further strengthens this effect. Chavez praises the effectiveness of a boycott, an act in which people forbid relations with a group in order to achieve change, made popular by Gandhi. The allusion to commonly revered supporters of the principles Chavez has built himself upon, gives him the credibility to gain the attention of the audience.

According to the documentary, Viva La Causa, farmworkers have gained minimum wages, rights, and a union. During the strike, the Delano growers had connections with the police, therefore, they were armed with strong forces against the picketers. The picketers were cruelly treated and we know this because the article, Fighting for Farmworkers' Rights: Cesar Chavez, The Delano Grape Strike and Boycott stated, “Picketers were sprayed with pesticides, threatened with dogs, verbally assaulted, and physically attacked.” However, Cesar Chavez responded with the nonviolent way of sending his allies in the clergy to walk the picket lines. In June of 1975, The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the only law in the country that protects farmworkers’ right to unionize, was passed. The act stated, in Section III: Unfair Labor Practices, “The purpose of establishing an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) procedure is to prevent employers and unions from interfering with, restraining or coercing farm workers in the exercise of their rights as defined by the

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.

From 1954 to 1968, African Americans fought to end segregation in the southern United States through nonviolent protests. As a major leader of the movement, Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged this approach. Ten years after MLK’s assassination, American civil rights activist Cesar Chavez published an article to commemorate the great leader and what he stood for. In his magazine article, Cesar Chavez utilizes logos, pathos, and ethos to convey the importance of nonviolence.

Cesar believed in non-violent acts as much more effective than violent ones. Cesar Chavez believed in equality but not in violence. He thought leading marches would be a successful way to get what he wanted. His first boycott was against the Delano grape growers.

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.

With Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Gil Padilla, the NFWA was formed. The movement focused on using boycotts to get its’ message across. The UFWU, United Farm Workers Union, was a union that aligned itself with the goals of other Chicano movement leaders and unions. Their goals involved better wages and treatment for migrant workers. With Chavez’s influence, many similar leaders emerged throughout the United States, working to gain better and humane treatment for

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

“Because of Cesar and millions of Americans who supported farm workers by boycotting grapes and other products, under then-Gov. Jerry Brown California passed the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, the nation's first, and still the only, law guaranteeing farm workers the right to organize, choose their own union representative and negotiate with their employers”(Chavez Foundation). Cesar and his people fought for what was right and their reward was the ALRA of 1975. “...banning discrimination in employment and sexual harassment of women workers”(Chavez Foundation). Chavez had some good reasons to protest his people's predicament as said above. “...rest periods, toilets in the fields, clean drinking water, hand washing facilities, banning discrimination in employment and sexual harassment of women workers, requiring protective clothing against pesticide exposure, prohibiting pesticide spraying while workers are in the fields and outlawing DDT and other dangerous pesticides”(Chavez Foundation)

After a man like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dies, the world comes to a consensus to take a moment and think. The power to inspire and motivate people was not only Dr.King’s strong suit, but it helped him change the world. When Dr. King was assassinated, Cesar Chavez took the opportunity to try and synthesize his beliefs with Dr. King’s in an attempt to show the world the his own cause. The strongest aspects of Dr. King’s movement that Cesar tried to incorporate with his was the idea of a nonviolent resistance, and once Mr. Chavez found a way to link the beliefs of the labor union to those of Dr. King’s civil rights movement, he used Dr. King’s credibility, passion, logic, and many other rhetorical choices to support his cause.

Similarly, an additional social justice tactic is the participation in strikes, which is the refusal to work until changes are made. Strikes can be done by various groups -- the most recent strikes to hit the media include teachers from various states fighting for higher salaries and more funding for their classrooms and educational activities. Strikes are different from marches as they are typically performed by labor unions fighting for changes in relation to occupations. They include all members of the union and can last anywhere from a couple of days to a few years, whereas a march is typically a one day or weekend event (Robinson, Lecture from 3/19/18). For example, the Delano Grape Strike started in 1965 and didn’t achieve their goals of clean drinking water, health benefits, higher pay, and bathroom access in the fields until 1970. By the time the employees returned to work, an astounding majority had already lost their homes (Film, “Viva La Causa”). The consequences for a strike in comparison to a march are much higher but strikes are better at convincing employers while marches are typically used to convince legislators.

“Letter from Delano”, by Cesar Chavez, the writer is attempting to perform this impossible feat on E.L. Barr Jr., the president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League. Throughout his life, 1927 to 1993, Chavez was a prominent civil rights activist who fought for the rights of farm workers. He performed nonviolent protests including marches, boycotts, and hunger strikes. One famous boycott was the Grape Strike, in which Cesar urged Americans to buy grapes from foreign places in order to bring attention to the plight of field workers. By 1969, when the letter was written, Chavez had already co-founded the National Farm Workers Association. His goal was to fight for better treatment, increased pay, and improved working conditions. His nonviolent methods were extremely similar to the protests of Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968, over the rights of African Americans. In the letter, Cesar Chavez is specifically addressing claims, made by the California Grape and Tree Fruit League, of a violent protest performed by the farm workers. Throughout the letter, Chavez confronts the shocking accusations, explains his use of nonviolent methods, and emphasizes the purpose of his protests. He strives to make the president understand the plight of the workers and view their protests as a product of the worker’s determination for change, not as violent and personal attacks that

These Latinos would work the fields and were heavily discriminated because of their social class and background. Farmers would abuse of many Latinos’ status here in this country and pay them very minimal money, sometimes the farmers would be throwing pesticide while there was workers picking the land. The labor workers would work hard under the bursting sun every day for long hours of the day for very low pay. Mr. Chavez and Mrs. Huerta got tired of this abuse and decided to protest against this unfair treatment. Mr. Chavez lead a protest boycotting grapes, and this movement inspired many other labor workers to stand up to this