During the mid twentieth century, many Mexican immigrants fled to California in search of employment opportunities. This spike in available labor allowed wealthy land-owning Americans to decrease pay and quality working conditions, while elongating work hours and demanding higher daily quotas. Consequently, many farm workers protested unfair working conditions. Despite this plight for social justice, the Catholic Church did not choose to take action in supporting those in need. As a result, many Mexican Americans felt as if their voices were not being valued within the Catholic community. Without the Church’s support, Mexican Americans had little hope of promoting their cause because they were not valued in society due to their race and social …show more content…
Considering that he is speaking at the Mexican Convention during a highly religious era, his ideal and situated audiences most likely overlap significantly. According to a Pew research study, over 55% of Hispanics identify as Catholic. Being a member of this ideal audience himself, Chavez is able to understand his listener’s problems and concerns. Consequently, he is able to empathize with his audience because he himself is among them. Thus, he is the most qualified to pose a reasonable solution. Chavez makes sure to emphasize, “there is a tremendous spiritual and economic power in the church” (Chavez 3). Essentially, he means that there is so much potential within the Church that is simply not being utilized. Ultimately, it is the job of the working Mexican Americans to seek out the hurting and the broken, thus becoming leaders in the Church. By utilizing the Biblical ideals of servant leadership, they can attract the attention of the Church leaders and therefore gain the support of the diocese. In this way, they will have access to the plethora of economic and financial support within the Church. But in order to achieve this, they must humble themselves and reach out to support those who are still fighting for equality. Chavez cites two examples of this method in proof of its effectiveness. When “priests would speak out loudly and clearly …show more content…
Despite being the clear auditor in this situation, he still is able to participate in a “passive kind of interaction,” that allows his audience to feel like they are being heard and understood (Rogers 103). It is not unlikely that many of the members of Chavez’s own audience is either currently in or was once in need of support from the Church. Therefore, he is easily able to create an environment in which his audience can or at least in some point in their lives could have related. Carl Rogers suggests that an effective empathizer should “listen for the feelings,” however; Chavez predicts the feelings based on his own personal experience (Rogers 103). In this way, he is able to make remarks that resonate with his audience because they have specific feelings towards the experiences he describes. He relives the memories of “When the strike began, [and the Church] told [them they] could not even use the Church’s auditorium for the meetings” (Chavez 2). Outraged, Chavez reminds the audience, “The farm workers money helped build that auditorium!” (Chavez 2). Thus, he paints a vivid picture of the unfortunate reality of the Church’s lackluster endorsement of farmer’s rights. Many members of the audience probably remember these instances and experienced them personally.
Ultimately, Chavez’s empathetic approach to social justice spurred the movement leading to the mobilization of common
One reason Cesar Chavez was an effective leader was because he created a union known as the United Farm Workers. Chavez’s goal was to organize the farmers to receive better pay and better working conditions. He was not the first to attempt, others have tried but failed due to the power of growers. He was different, he gained support through encouragement. His exact words were “si se puede”(Doc A) meaning “it can be done”. He encouraged his supporters to seek their rights as farmers. “ The strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for other in a totally nonviolent struggle for justice”(Doc C). Chavez along
Cesar Chavez was a civil rights activist who organized the earliest Chicano movements. In an essay by Jorge Mariscal, Chavez’s political ideology is
So, we can note that the diverse social setting in which Chavez gave this speech was turbulent, people were desperate for reform, and individuals like Dr. King, Friedan, and Chavez were the face and voice of cultural communities striving for change.
As a result, Chavez’ purpose is to influence, the church to be open to change. The Mexican-American Organization, happily opened their arms to the California Migrant Ministry and it lead to an amazing outcome. Chavez wanted the church to adapt to society, he states, “We ask the church to sacrifice with the people for social change, for justice, and for love of brother. We don't ask for words. We ask for deeds. We don't ask for paternalism.” (Chavez). Chavez gets to the point of what him and the Mexican-American Community want. This is the purpose of the speech, the justification of what he expects from them. They don't need anything else
Cesar Chavez was a civil rights leader and a labor union organizer who delivered a carefully crafted speech by acknowledging the perspective of his audience in order to vouch for the use of nonviolence over violence. While Chavez is arguing against the use of violence, he refrains from blaming anyone who had ever used violence. He manages to gain the trust of the audience by presenting himself as an understanding and compassionate individual, which allows them to be more receptive to his message.
Multiple times, throughout the text, Chavez uses pathos to appeal emotionally to his audience. Chavez builds a connection and empathy with the readers and persuades them to be people who fight for causes nonviolently. In the sixth paragraph Chaves states that, “men and women who are truly concerned about people are non violent by nature. These people become violent when the deep concern they have for people is frustrated and when they are faced with seemingly insurmountable odds.” Chavez states that everyone who actually cares about people should be nonviolent, that they shouldn’t have to resort to violence because they don’t need it. This quote builds a connection and causes self-reflection for the
By persuading the audience to sympathize with his point of view, Chavez develops emotional appeals through pathos. In the beginning of the article, Chavez focuses primarily on his side of the argument, but he does not forget to acknowledge the views of the opposing side. He recognizes the conflicting side’s emotions when he says, “We advocate militant nonviolence as our means of achieving justice for our people, but we are not blind to the feelings of frustration, impatience and anger…” (Chavez). By appealing to the audience’s emotions, Chavez creates an understanding relationship with the reader, making them more accepting of his
Cesar Chavez championed for unionization of grape farm workers. Chavez employed strikes, fasts, and boycotts to raise awareness for their cause. Violent retaliation was needless to Chavez so much he believed that the most audacious thing to do was to “sacrifice” one’s self “for others” in the name of justice (Alarcon). Cesar Chavez and his associates were targets of increasing acts of violence. By not meeting violence with violence, their cause fell on listening ears. Cesar and the farm worker’s retaliation consisted of increased dedication and more strikes. Drawing from peaceful protest historical figures such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez was successful with many labor strikes. Chavez could have raised awareness much more rapidly by using violence. However, he “fasted for twenty-five days” for the unerring choice of peaceful protest (Cesar Chavez Gains Grounds for Farmers). Belief in their cause fueled each protester. A single violent outburst from the workers would ripple outward and cause them to lose ground. The farm workers did not make gains without facing hardships. Cesar Chavez’s fast was the result of “increasing advocacy” calling for “violence” among fellow strikers (History.com Staff). As a leader, one must take responsibility for the actions of their supporters. The strikes were beginning to strain. Careful steps were to be taken in order to preserve the strikers’ reason and renew support. Cesar had to challenge their oppressors
The company was aware of what Chavez was doing, but they didn’t pay that much attention until they started to lose money. The boss of the company was started to get concerned and started sending his people to stop the strikes. The strikes of Chavez were nonviolence so he didn’t care if the police or somebody came to stop it because it’s against the law. However, the boss sends his people over to Chavez and told him that if they don’t stop the strike they will open fire to all the people. The people of Chavez were getting scared, but Chavez was motivating them by saying “si so Puede” until the police shot fire and took Chavez to jail. Cesar kept fighting until he got out of jail and proceed his work he had left. Cesar was losing hope because people were not following him because if they do they will get shot. Cesar stopped eating for a week to see if the people were still caring to change the way they were getting threaten and the people got the message and started doing strikes again without fear. The company was in rage, but they couldn’t do anything and the people were getting hopped. People from other countries were joining them too. People were with Chavez and when the company had no choice but to surrender. Chavez at the end stood up and started to eat again and he does justice for his people and for all the people around the world saying the famous phrase, “Si se Puede”.
revolution? The poor, the workers.” By striking pity and making the reader reflect, Chavez grabs
In his first large protest, Cesar went on a long march. When reflecting upon the march Chavez remarked that, “We marched alone at the beginning, but today, we count men of all creeds, nationalities, and occupations in number.” (Chavez, 2) From the very beginning, Chavez brought groups of people together by uniting his small group of protesters with a group of Filipino strikers to create the United Farm Workers. Uniting his group of protesters with the group of striking Filipino workers allowed the protest to become bigger, and therefore more successful. The large numbers also attracted more attention from the media. By uniting groups of strikers, Chavez created a strong protest organization that lasts even today. Another essential group of people Chavez got to join his cause were the consumers. Chavez and his partner Dolores Huerta once wrote, “We called upon our fellow men, and were answered by consumers.” (Chavez, Huerta, 1) Consumers helped the protest by participating in a grape boycott, and did not buy grapes until the grape workers’ needs were met. With this boycott, Chavez tried to weaken the business of the grape growers until they complied, and it worked. When thousands of citizens would not by grapes, the media covered the issue. Through the media coverage, the boycott spread rapidly, uniting people from all over the United States. With the popularity of the boycott, the protest evolved into not just a protest, but a civil rights
In the novel The Scarlet Letter, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s portrayal of the women; specifically Hester, shows that he is indeed a feminist author. He made Hester the opposite of what women back during the Puritan times were. He made her as a strong, determined, and independent women who did not need a man in charge of her life during a time where women were treated as non-equals to men. Specifically Nathaniel Hawthorne made Hester as a strong independent women who had survived without a man taking care of her, embraced the Scarlet Letter that was meant to shame her, and even guiding and leading Dimmesdale when back then it should have been him guiding and leading her.
Their faith allowed them to feel stronger when the movement was taking place, it allowed them to fight in several different ways. The movement was already in the fifth month and they had not seen any type of change, this was when Cesar Chavez decided to start a “peregrinacion” to Sacramento. His goal was to recruit or inspire as many people so they could join the movement and have a louder voice. This brought an opportunity to take their voices all around the San Joaquin valley, they saw the valley as a place that had been full of limitations for them and the “peregrinacion” made the limitations disappear, they were able to surpass those walls, and as they walked throughout many towns more and more people became sympathetic to their cause and joined them on this journey. When they were on the “peregrinacion” their mornings began with the faith they had held they went to mass, after they would begin to walk to the next town, following a sacred image of La Virgen de Guadalupe it gave them hope. His nonviolence policy also had a lot to give to the movement, as years pass many of the farm workers became frustrated at the fact that they had not seen any changes, they began to talk about using violence against the growers, this was when Cesar Chavez began to worry about the things they could do, and he took matters into his own hands. In 1968 he started a
Many of us today know about Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a Dream” speech; yet, Cesar Chavez gave a similar speech about a different crisis and we fail to recognize it. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement to end racial segregation and discrimination in America during the 1950's and 1960's. He hoped to obtain equality through nonviolent actions. Cesar Chavez was the leader of the United Farm Workers of America, who saw the hopes for better lives for Mexican, Mexican American, and Hispanic workers in the United States. Although Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar wrote about two very different topics they tend to have many similarities throughout their speeches discussing what we as a nation need to do to solve each problem.
During his lifetime, Cesar Chavez and his followers made many changes and contributions to society. While he was alive, he had the privilege to see what his non-violence actions produced; what they transpired. It is recorded that Chavez began actively organizing workers in the fields in 1952. The California-based Community Service Organization (CSO) recruited and trained for his work. Chavez built new chapters of CSO, led voter registration drives, and helped Mexican-Americans confront issues of police and immigration abuse during the next ten years. In 1958 he became general director of CSO. With