Note: This post was originally published on March 2014. We are repeating it today in recognition of Helen Chavez, the widow of iconic Mexican-American civil rights and labor activist Cesar Chavez, who passed away on June 6th at the age of 88.
March 31st would have been the 84h birthday of the late civil rights
activist and labor leader Cesar Chavez. His life has received renewed
attention with the new release of a Hollywood biopic that was directed by Diego Luna and stars Michael Peña, America Ferrera and Rosario Dawson.
The Mexican-American Chavez devoted his life to improving the conditions
of farm workers by campaigning for equal pay and fair working
conditions. He championed nonviolent efforts to promote the rights of
farmworkers who generally suffered from abusive labor conditions as well
as low pay for their work. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded
the United Farm Workers (UFW), which helped organize strikes and other
actions such as a boycott in the 1980s to protest the use of toxic
pesticides on grapes.
Chavez’s views on immigration varied; on the one hand, he was opposed to undocumented immigrants who he viewed as “scabs” that would potentially undermine his efforts to campaign for farmworkers. Yet he also successfully campaigned to end the Bracero guest worker program that he believed had exploited migrant laborers and unfairly displaced domestic farmworkers.
Below the page break is the first part
of a documentary depicting the Delano grape strike of the mid-1960s
where Chavez and his allies fought for union recognition for
farmworkers. The film includes footage of the poor working conditions
faced by laborers, picketing protesters in front of a California
supermarket, and an interview with one of the grape owners who admitted
to have never met Chavez but still labeled his tactics as “distasteful.”
In the second part of the
documentary then-California Governor and future U.S. President Ronald
Reagan claims that the grape boycott is “immoral” and ill-timed
“blackmail,” which are accusations that Chavez subsequently replied to in the film.
The Delano grape strike lasted five years and ended with the UFW successfully reaching a collective bargaining agreement with growers in 1970.
YouTube Source - UnionSolidarity
Online Sources – imdb.com, Latino Times, Fox News Latino, Wikipedia, The Latin Americanist, ABC News
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