Cesar Chavez writes an essay to argue that violence is a useless form of getting one's way and instead people should approach things with non violence. To strengthen his argument Chavez uses rhetorical strategies such as name calling and parallel structure. As a result ridiculing the use of violence so anyone who uses it self-classifies as ridiculous. Aswell, using parallel structure to identify all the good that comes from non violence. Chavez belittles the act of violence Using name calling he addresses it as, “senseless” and says it simply, “does not work”. Chavez spends a lot of time pointing out the savageness that is associated with violence. By using the word senseless, Chavez ultimately degrades anyone who acts in a violent manner.
¬¬¬Though most American people claim to seek peace, the United States remains entwined with both love and hate for violence. Regardless of background or personal beliefs, the vast majority of Americans enjoy at least one activity that promotes violence whether it be professional fighting or simply playing gory video games. Everything is all well and good until this obsession with violence causes increased frequency of real world crimes. In the article, “Is American Nonviolence Possible” Todd May proposes a less standard, more ethical, fix to the problem at hand. The majority of the arguments brought up make an appeal to the pathos of the reader with a very philosophical overall tone.
Ferriss, Susan, Ricardo Sandoval, and Diana Hembree. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997. Print.
In the early 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement was rearing its head amongst ethnicities other than African Americans. The mid-60’s saw the flowering of a movement for legal rights among Mexican-Americans, as well as a new militancy challenging the group’s second-class economic status. The aptly named ‘Chicano’ movement had many similarities to what the ‘Black Power’ movement also advocated. It primarily emphasized pride in both the past and present Mexican culture, but unlike the Black Power movement and SDS, it was also closely linked to labor struggles. The movement itself found one of its leaders in César Estrada Chávez, the son of migrant farm works and disciple of Martin Luther King Jr. César Chávez would become the best-known Latino American civil rights activist through his use of aggressive but nonviolent tactics and his public-relations approach to unionism. In 1965, Chávez led a series of nonviolent protests which included marches, fasts and a national boycott of California grapes. The boycott drew national attention to the pitifully low wages and oppressive working conditions forced upon migrant laborers, and in 1969, Chávez addressed a “Letter from Delano” to agricultural employers, defending his own movement’s aims and tactics.
Cesar chavez (1927-1993) was a civil rights leader. He is most famous for creating the National Farm Workers Association. Chavez grew up in Arizona on his family’s farm. When the depression hit, Chavez was 11 years old, and his family lost their farm and were forced to become migrant workers. The working conditions on the farms Chavez and his family worked on were horrible. This later inspired him to make a union for farm workers, the National Farm Workers Association. He is known for being an activist of civil rights for Latinos, rights for farm workers, and also for animal rights.
Even though, this is a fictional book, it tells a true story about the struggle of the farm worker to obtain a better life for themselves and their families. There are two main themes in this book, non-violence, and the fight for dignity. Cesar Chavez was a non-violent man who would do anything to not get in a fight while they where boycotting the growers. One, incident in the story was when a grower pulled out a gun, and he pointed it at the strikers, Chavez said, “He has a harder decision to make, we are just standing here in peace…” The picketer were beaten and put in jail before they would fight back and that is what why all farm workers look up to Cesar Chavez , along with his good friend Martin Luther King Jr. Non-Violence is the only way to solve anything. The growers in that time did not care about their workers, if people were striking, the growers would go to Mexico and bring in Braceros, mean that they would not have to sign the union contract and not take union workers, who were willing to work if the grower would sign the contract.
Cesario Estrada Chavez, or Cesar Chavez, as he is more commonly known, was an American farm worker, community organizer, and civil rights leader who co-founded the National United Farm Workers Association in 1962. His accomplishments as a leader have been chronicled in numerous literary works and have upheld him as one of the most recognized Mexican-American leaders of the last century. In this piece, I aim to analyze Cesar Chavez's leadership style by looking at his accomplishments as a leader, and explore some of his many enduring contributions to society. I will use Peter Northouse’s book, Introduction to Leadership, to help examine Cesar Chavez’s approach to leadership.
1. What is the difference between a. and a. Topic: style- satirical tone “Do you see these little holes on his arms that appear to be pores?.these holes emit a certain grease that allows our model to slip and slide right through the crop with no trouble at all” (1199). The satirical tone exemplifies the realization of the paradox towards Mexican prejudice; the author satirizes society’s stereotypes against Mexicans. Demonstrating how in reality some individuals view Mexicans as robots instead of human beings. The author criticizes the label of a farmworker and thus shows how society may perceive Mexican as only being good for fieldwork.
Through the years, individuals have shown that a single man can make a difference. Men who, when committed to a cause, will rise up with honor, integrity, and courage. Cesar Chavez was such a man. He represented the people and rose above his self concerns to meet the needs of the people. Cesar Chavez showed us that, “The highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline.” He lived by this standard and fought freedom with the highest form of dignity and character.
The purpose of this memo is to compare the similarities and contrast the differences between Jimmy Hoffa Sr. and Cesar Chavez. Both Hoffa and Chavez were great charismatic labor organizers who had different methods of achieving their goals for their union. They had vastly different attitudes and personalities which aided them both in different ways. To fully understand each individual, a bit of background information is necessary.
A person can see that they are being oppressed and treated unjustly, but if they do not have the understanding of why they have been placed in a particular position, and if they do not have the tools to remove themselves from said position then their knowledge is useless. In the films Salt of the Earth and Cesar Chavez, the farmers and miners both have a general awareness that the treatment they are receiving is far past inhumane, however they feel powerless because they do not feel they have a place in society or history. Political consciousness is formed by the oppressed cultivating methods to regain a sense of self within history and society; riding themselves from their oppressors authority. Each film ended with the beginning of the process
...able to showcase the great power that nonviolence could have on the world and how by using methods such as that one would be more successful than if one used violence. As Mahatma Gandhi once said “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”
To sum up, Chavez was a man that fought for farmers to be traded better. One of his quotes was “The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people”. With this, we can conclude that no matter the kind of strike he had lead, it was always for the people. For example, when he was fighting about the pesticide in grapes or lettuces, the true fight he was leading was always a fight for the people in order to make their lives easier. Maybe his life was not easy as a child working at a young age or maybe it got more complicated as he got older and enter the unions to defend the people that worked on farms, but he got to be a hero among the farmers. More importantly, Chavez got the farmers the momentum they needed in order for them to fight for what they wanted, and in the end, accomplished to get the rights they deserved.
Cesar admired heroes like Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr for their nonviolent methods. He followed Gandhi and Dr. King’s practice of nonviolence for the protest against grapes. Some young male strikers started talking about acts of violence. They wanted to fight back at the owners who have treated them poorly. They wanted to fight back to show that they were tough and manly. Some of the strikers viewed nonviolence as very inactive and even cowardly. However, Cesar did not believe in violence at all. He believed nonviolence showed more manliness than violence and that it supports you if you’re doing it for the right reason. He thought nonviolence made you to be creative and that it lets you keep the offensive, which is important in any contest. Following his role model Ghandi, “Chavez would go on hunger strikes” (Cesar Chavez 2). This showed that he would starve for his cause and that he was very motivated. It also showed that he was a very peaceful and nonviolent protester. Chavez was fasting to rededicate the movement to nonviolence. He fasted for 25 days, drinking only water and eating no food. This act was an act of penitence for those who wanted violence and also a way of taking responsibility as leader of his movement. This fast split up the UFW staff. Some of the people could not understand why Cesar was doing the fast. Others worried for his health and safety. However the farmworkers
Senator Robert F. Kennedy described him as “one of the heroic figures of our time” (Cesar Chavez Foundation). This shows that Cesar Chavez made a difference in people’s lives, including Senator Robert’s. Some people may say that immigrants are bad people but Cesar Chavez was an immigrant himself yet, also a hero to the country. Experts say he was an American farm worker, labor leader, and a civil rights activist. This shows that he fought for what he believed in. Being a farm worker wasn’t something he planned on doing but he had no choice because he was an immigrant. He saw how cruel Americans were treating immigrants so he fought for their rights. He spoke for all the immigrants everywhere. The Cesar Chavez Foundation mentioned that at age 11, his family lost their farm during the great depression and became migrant farm workers. This shows how and why Cesar Chavez fought for farmworkers rights. He grew up not having the best childhood but he took others lives into consideration and fought for them to have a better and brighter
Jusko, Adam. "Cesar Chavez." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in History Resource Center. San Antonio College Lib., San Antonio, TX. 7 July 2014