On Friday, March 28, the movie about the iconic labor leader Cesar Chavez and the farm worker movement will be released nationwide. The reason I will be viewing it several times is: it is a family affair and it’s personal. This is why the movie, “Cesar Chavez” matters.
As an organizer for the CWA Local 9423, the challenges to organizing are always present: late hours; worker intimidation by anti-union employers; labor laws that are not vigorously enforced, to name a few. These obstacles to building worker power are seen day in and day out not only in Silicon Valley but across the country. Now imagine trying to organize agricultural workers facing the worst working conditions and the most abusive employers. This was the reality of organizing farm workers in the 1960’s and it is the reality today.
In the late 1960’s, as a young Chicano growing up in then agricultural laden Santa Clara Valley, I worked summers and weekends in the fields and orchards beginning at 12 years old. The work supplemented my family’s income but it was extremely hard and exhausting and did not even come close to matching my father’s years picking cotton and other crops. While I did this for all of 4 years, it forever implanted first hand awareness in me of the extreme working conditions farm workers labored under: very hard work for little pay and prolonged exposure to chemicals and pesticides and other hazards.
Painting by San Jose artist Greg Carillo
The movimiento (movement) and la causa (the cause) were also in full swing at this time due largely to the efforts of the United Farm Workers. The provocative but simple tactics by the UFW and its leaders to further the struggle for basic union and human rights for farm workers, broke the stereotypical mold of the complacent Mexicano in the United States. While there had been countless agricultural strikes and protests in California throughout the last century, none ever came close to grabbing the public’s attention as the great grape strike which started in 1966. This movement was a discussion in our homes. Throughout the barrio, Viva La Causa! (Long Live the Cause) and in the early 1970’s, Si Se Puede! (Yes you can) became more than slogans; they was becoming part of our world view. Mexican-Americans were gaining union jobs like never before in both the private and public sectors and La Gente (the people) were also becoming politically active in mass numbers. The sleeping giant had indeed awakened!
It was also earth-shattering to see Mexicans and Chicanos on television, even if it was just on the news. Prior to this time, at the national level, the United States was largely viewed through a black and white prism and the Cesar Chavez led UFW shattered that.
I also do not place Cesar Chavez on a saintly pedestal to be revered. That would be foolish and contrary to the goals of la causa (which were to help the people). I also do not ignore the fact that others such as the great Filipino farm worker leader Larry Itilong and women like Dolores Huerta also played major roles in this historic movement.
But I ask, what politician, civil rights leader and labor leader is without fault? Why hold Cesar and the UFW to an impossible standard: perfection? Cesar Chavez sacrificed a lot, even his own health for la causa, this is why my family, marched, picketed, boycotted, and has a picture of Cesar and the UFW flag in our house. The Cesar Chavez movie will help us to never forget where we came from! Union organizers can also take a page from Cesar and the UFW and commit to self-sacrifice and perseverance for the greater good.
My favorite Cesar quote is: “Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.
Si Se Puede! Viva La Causa! See the movie!
Louie Rocha is an organizer with CWA Local 9423
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Great article! Too often my generation reads about Chavez and the farm worker movement in a history textbook, instead of first-hand accounts from community leaders. We sometimes forget that the farm worker movement is not history, and while Chavez made a tremendous impact, there is much work left to do. ¡Viva la causa!