Cesar Chavez and The Rights for Farm Workers

“From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength:” his quote describes Cesar E. Chavez as a person that feels he needs to take some leadership in bringing unity between people by describing his leadership skills. Chavez’s speech begins with an introduction of the church with respectful comments that he makes about the organization then, in addition, he adds a life experience he had to face with him against the church and how he felt that the church should give address more problems about the Farmworkers. Within his experience, he is trying to reach out to his audience by suggesting that they hear him out and listen to his point of view which is that he is trying to worry about people that work so hard to produce food while the church feels no remorse. He is also trying to recruit his audience “He attained national prominence in 1965 by launching a strike for California grape-pickers and a national boycott of grapes that lasted five years. By 1975, a Louis Harris poll showed 17 million Americans adults were honoring the grape boycott” this helps notify the audience is millions of Americans that he is trying to persuade to be a part of his movement against the Catholic Church. Cesar Chavez, in his attempt to create fairness to the farm workers, delivers his speech using a less emotional tactic to appeal to his audience, he inputs his knowledge of farm workers and the struggles they endure.

Cesar was a Mexican-American labor leader that went about his way trying to bring the people together as one instead of two separate groups. Chavez was a man who dedicated his whole life to improving the lifestyle, pay rate and conditions of farm workers because when he was younger him and his family had to face all the troubles that the farm workers have to go through now. Allowing Chavez to raise awareness for the farm workers represents a strong figure because he first hand experienced what all the farm laborers had to go through and he feels that it was not fair and that they should be treated fairly just like the other civilians. Chavez started to see red flags with the church “why do protestants come out here and help the people, demand nothing, and give all their time to serving farm workers, while our parish priests stay in their churches,” it raises a flag as to why a sanctuary as holy as the church could not help others in need that sacrifice their time to produce crops and work for the community. Chavez was serious about changing the lives of working that he attended meetings to gather all the people in Delano but because of the Priests it was not acceptable. Chavez eventually decided that “the strike was a matter of life or death for farm workers everywhere”.

Chavez feels strongly about the church and also about the farm workers. The church is described as “an ecumenical body spread around, the world, and not just its particular form in a local community” allowing this description of the church help explain how the church contributes to making an impact to lives by the way he passionately is trying to persuade his audience of the importance of the church. The church that Cesar is describing while he is boldly adding in his protest helps allow a depth of feeling for his passion for the church, the impact he feels it makes for him and the people he is trying to raise awareness for. “The church we are talking about is a tremendously powerful institution in our society, and in the world,” with this statement he explains the lovely church he beholds while embracing the seriousness of the poverty that takes place in his community and how the church has a strong presence to them that he is gonna have to fight against. Another subject that has a strong meaning to him is the farm workers, Chavez was once a worker of his own and with him experiencing this first hand he understands the hard work and struggles and does not want others to have to endure troubles like he did. So, throughout this speech it contains a sense of sympathy for the farm workers and a feeling of hurt because the church went against all that they preach which is helping other.

Cesar Chavez led a movement so powerful it went down in history and he put hope in people's eyes that did not have hope for themselves. Cesar’s protest began because he was trying to work together with the church to keep farm workers in virtual enslavement which led to a protest breakout that resulted in the poor against the church. “Chavez knew it would take more than a union to overcome these burdens; it would take a movement” which is the sole reason why no one compares to Chavez leading this movement for the Farm Workers. No one else developed credibility for themselves as well as Chavez so leading this movement against a strong figure as the catholic church was gonna require pure dedication and fearlessness. He exposed the church to support his claim that the church does not care about the poor “the Catholic charities agencies of the Catholic Church has millions of dollars earmarked for the poor. Often the money the church has invested is spent for food baskets for the needy” he addresses the churches insecurities and lets the public know the problems associated with the church and how they do not show any remorse for helping the poor.

Chavez was essentially a motivational speaker that wanted to approach a situation and problem that he felt needed to be addressed. He was motivated by the goal that he set for himself which was to gain freedom for Farmworkers and he knew he could not do it by himself. He tried to recruit the church because he felt they were an organization that was based around helping others and people that needed help but he thought otherwise. This speech was the movement that addressed a situation about a church that happened years ago where the church only cared about themselves and no one else. Chavez with this essay tried to convince his audience in 1965 to help be a part of his movement and make a difference in changing the not so privileged people’s lives.