The UFW is here today because the standard set by him and those around him, continues to be high. If the Union does not cow tow to corruption, the Union shall carry on in toatal strength, not being hindered by substandard working conditions. Only through complete awareness of all human rights, can workers begin to move forward to fairness. By fully educating all members and affiliates, the Union will be made perfect. The need to lift Cesar’s voice to a higher level is essential, to educate all people equally on the importance of fair jobs and good food and wine!

When the workers are happy, regardless if they are so called illegals (racist term), they will spread the happiness around in a certain spiritual way; in effect, through gratitude, as opposed to only hardships. Mexico has a special place in this country’s history, so to use the term “illegal” for these people is absurd. It would be akin to conquering half of Europe, building a wall, and calling them “Illegals” when they try to return, or go to a land once recently theirs. Lou Dobbs may say, well Mexico only owned the taken lands for only 35 years, almost indicating it is ok to take the lands. This is like saying, I can take your watch because you only owned it for a week! Not so. Then to call their people “illegals” is not good. Just like telling the Native children they can’t speak their own language, till they get their culture beaten out of them. Not good. If we are to remain a powerful nation, truly then we must be fair to all people. The weakest link, as in abused workers, will only break the chain, which will not be good for anyone.

We worked the fields, we know the struggle. Some weren’t there, or have ever been in the fields, yet they have a passion to see what is humanly right.

Trent Sorenson

in regards to the internet disbursement of material regarding Chavez, since I heard about this whole subject (which I heard about through vivir latino, btw), I have been looking all over the internet, and everything from wikipedia to vivir latino to joe schmoe with radom internet site has some type of commentary on this.

I’m glad you’re posting stuff.

As far as immigration goes, however, things are different. You write, “The ONLY thing he was against was strike breakers, documented or undocumented” well that’s the rub, I would phrase it another way, I would have wrote, “The ONLY thing he was for was union workers, documented or undocumented”. It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one.

Remember, unions were strongly anti-immigration at his time, they have only recently shifted for political reasons, but their interests have always, and are still, at odds with immigration interests in general. So to be against ’strike breakers’, or ’scabs’, as Chavez and his friends would have certainly referred to them, is to be against immigration itself, or do you think the rich white guy down the street, or the young black person next door would have been the most likely scabs? Chavez learned early on that immigrants coming across the border, “out of ignorance�they had never heard of a union�or out of fear of reprisal”, or out of necessity, would not give up pay and working conditions that were significantly higher than what they were used to back home to placate the needs of, what I am sure looked to them, richer spoiled immigrants already in the United States.

Okay, Chavez initially tried to convert the recently arrived immigrants, fine, but when he learned that many would not succumb, he turned to immigration in general. This is exactly as Navarrette said, when he wrote, “Worried that the hiring of illegal immigrants drove down wages, Chavez � according to numerous historical accounts � instructed union members to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service to report the presence of illegal immigrants in the fields and demand that the agency deport them. UFW officials were even known to picket INS offices to demand a crackdown on illegal immigrants.” You say he did so to improve the lives of immigrants in the United States, I say he did so to improve the lives of union members in the United States, but the historical facts themselves are not in dispute – Chavez did instruct union members to call the INS on immigrants who did not heed his demands.

I grant that Chavez did a lot for union farm workers – that is not in dispute. What I am saying here is that he did a lot for union farm workers at the expense of immigrants. And because of such, Chavez is not an immigrant’s hero, nor is he a Latinos hero, properly speaking, Chavez is a union hero, and as such, his glory rises or falls on the glory of unions in general. Since I don’t think unions do much good in the long run (and in fact do much harm, see here and here), I give Chavez his props for what he did for farm workers then while also taking into account the harm he caused and it stops there.

My take:

Chavez was a union organizer for farmworkers, first and foremost. He was the leader of the UFW, a young organization that had to prove itself. UFW’s strikes and other actions against the growers were being strategically undermined by the growers in cooperation with the Border Patrol…the Border Patrol was letting groups of undocumented Mexican immigrants come through for use as strikebreakers by targeted farms. Chavez opposed the use Mexican immigrants in this manner. I don’t see that as a blanket opposition to Mexican immigration or immigration in general. This was a man in the heat of battle opposing the use of immigration as a weapon agsint the UFW.

Granted, many unions at the time were virulently anti-immigrant (that most unions are pro-immigrant today is one of the major policy shifts that I have seen in my young life). But Chavez and the UFW were also involved in a struggle against racism toward Mexicans in general, and Chavez was smart enough to see the divide and conquer attempt. He knew that any potential civil rights gains were vulnerable to attack as “giveaways” to “mexican wetbacks”.