Cesar Chavez La Causa Movement

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Undefined Inspiration The African American’s struggle for civil rights had a profound impact on the nation as a whole. The sit-ins, boycotts, and marches prompted disadvantaged Americans across the nation to join in the fight for social reform. In 1965, a mostly Filipino union organized a strike when the Delano grape growers cut the pay rates in the midst of the harvest season. When confronted by the organizers to join the farm workers strike Cesar Chavez quickly became a martyr for social change in the Californian countryside. Under Chavez’s leadership, the strike became defined in new terms. He assimilated the Mexican struggle for independence with the poverty stricken farmworkers struggle for freedom and dignity (Etulain, p. 84). The strike…show more content…
To the people of the La Causa movement, economic power meant further control over their lives and the ability to change the system that their families could not escape from. The protestors sought radical economic change in a desperate attempt to change their family’s destinies. At the heart of their struggle was always poverty because poverty made it almost impossible to survive let alone thrive. While Chavez attempted to attain their initial goal of financial security, the La Causa movement continued to keep members attention and interest by involving them in the core problems faced by the majority such as inadequate education. For children of farmworkers the ability to complete educational goals was almost impossible as they were needed to work in the fields in order to help support the rest of their families. Another issue of great importance was the use of dangerous and often toxic pesticides in the fields which proved to be a major source of illness among farmworkers. This initiative was strategically aimed at the growing environmentally conscious public which also raised the issue of insufficient medical care. Chavez sought funding to build medical clinics, low-cost housing for farmworkers, and improved working conditions. The battles were endless and the realization that noncitizens were afforded no protection…show more content…
His values and commitment to La Causa is applauded today as he was able to accomplish something that no one else had ever been able to. La Causa continues to inspire generations of activists who mimic their commitment to nonviolence and apply it to their own communities and personal struggles. The degree of success or failure of the La Causa movement should not be measured in terms of numbers of contracts signed, significant wage increases, improved working conditions for farm workers or even sustainability of the union because I believe the real success of La Causa was its ability to attain a degree of social reform. Of far greater importance than the numbers of people, money raised, or contracts put into effect was the ability of the La Causa movement to successfully demonstrate a peaceful approach to social change with strick adherence to nonviolent tactics. Another important feature of the movement that was truly inspiring was their unique ability to motivate and organize people of diverse backgrounds, socioeconomic classes, political affiliations, and religious preferences in an era of great cynicism. Farmworkers, housewives, students, and numerous others were inspired by Chavez to cast aside their daily lives and make exceptionally difficult sacrifices in order to enhance the lives of strangers. The La Causa movement proved that when
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