Cesar Chavez’s speech reminded me a lot of other great speeches by leaders who fought for change. His speech, like others before him, was meant to rouse up the laborers to continue on with the boycott. “For we are in the midst of a great social movement, and we will not stop struggling ‘til we die, or win!” (“Proclamation of the Delano Grape Workers”). Chavez is saying that this strike is so important that is something worth dying for. This is a very extreme comment, but at the same time freedom and equality is worth dying for, and that is what Chavez was fighting for. Chavez felt that because they, and their ancestors had lived and worked hard in America for so many years, that they deserved equal rights just like everyone else. I think Chavez is definitely right, and I feel like just like before, America was not ready to change yet. The majority of Americans enjoyed being on top, and the Hispanics being on bottom. They were not going to change unless someone stood up for what was right, and Chavez took that role. "Thus exposed, our picket lines were crippled by injunctions and harassed by growers; our strike was broken by imported scabs; our overtures to our employers were ignored. Yet we knew the day must come when they would talk to us, as equals," ("Proclamation of the Delano Grape Workers"). This shows how the Americans were not ready at the time for change and equal rights of minorities, in this case Hispanics. This also shows that like Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy, it is important to be patient because things are not going to change immediately, so one must stand tough and wait it out until the change that one wants occurs.
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Hey Carl. After reading your post, I feel that I should of looked at Cesar Chavez; he seems like an important figure during the time. Anyways, I agree with what you said and what Chavez thought. Back then, Hispanics were fighting for equality and rights and today they continue with the same struggle. Today, many Hispanics are working the minimum paid jobs, the jobs Americans don't do. Like you mentioned, they will always be at the bottom and it's hard for Ameicans to accept otherwise. But I feel that today, Hispanics are given many more opportunities; they have representation in government, schools, etc. but some choose not obtain them. Hispanics have the highest drop-out rate from high school when instead they could have gone to college and gotten an education. Like Martin Luther King, change isn't going to happen fast. It took many years but now we have a African American president in office. Who knows, maybe a Hispanic president will come soon.
ReplyDeleteAlong with Ivonne's post, I think that Cesar Chavez is a very important figure in the hispanic nation. I would compare him with MLK to african americans. He believed, just like MLK, that change would only happen if someone stood up for what they believed in and fought. There are reasons to the status of hispanics. It might have been the American's fault in starting hispanics with unequal rights but the hispanics have to fight for change and not give up. This is what i thought about what Cesar Chavez was saying.
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