Sylvia Morales served as the producer in Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, a 1996 documentary which illustrated the Mexican-American civil rights movement.Migrant farmer workers were plagued with nothing but the consequences of poverty. In their environment, they made only a few dollars a day, sacred resources, and limited opportunities for an education. The farm workers were stuck in a trapped cycle of hard work with barely a chance to move up socially. There was no sense of hope of being something different than a migrant worker. Being a farm worker creates the impression of being dirty, illiterate, lazy, and worthless to society. The workers begin to believe this about themselves after a lifetime of being
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It was also difficult to recruit enough workers to commit to their cause. If you involved yourself in one of these strikes, you would risk the already limited opportunities. The bosses of the fields threatened to fire workers and even mentioned deportation. Many of the workers lived in fear and waited for someone to make a bold move, and that someone was César Chávez.
César Chávez to the Mexican farm workers paralleled Martin Luther King Jr to the black community. Chávez was the leading force behind the national farm workers association and the efforts to unite farm workers in the central valley. Components of his strategy for farm worker included self determination through strikes and boycotts. Chavez also stressed the importance of non-violence and faith in their efforts to improve farm worker conditions.
The interrogation of the local sheriff by Robert Kennedy was a highpoint in the film for me because the idea of racial assumptions/stigma is very much connected to all current racial injustices. THe sherife saying that the Mexicans were “ready to break the law,” highlighted his racial biases against the latino community. It was good hearing the disapproving boos from the white audience members. It feels really impactful when demographics that are not affected by racist policies, actually stand up for what is right instead of turning their
It was also difficult to recruit enough workers to commit to their cause. If you involved yourself in one of these strikes, you would risk the already limited opportunities. The bosses of the fields threatened to fire workers and even mentioned deportation. Many of the workers lived in fear and waited for someone to make a bold move, and that someone was César Chávez.
César Chávez to the Mexican farm workers paralleled Martin Luther King Jr to the black community. Chávez was the leading force behind the national farm workers association and the efforts to unite farm workers in the central valley. Components of his strategy for farm worker included self determination through strikes and boycotts. Chavez also stressed the importance of non-violence and faith in their efforts to improve farm worker conditions.
The interrogation of the local sheriff by Robert Kennedy was a highpoint in the film for me because the idea of racial assumptions/stigma is very much connected to all current racial injustices. THe sherife saying that the Mexicans were “ready to break the law,” highlighted his racial biases against the latino community. It was good hearing the disapproving boos from the white audience members. It feels really impactful when demographics that are not affected by racist policies, actually stand up for what is right instead of turning their