Cesar Chavez: The Civil Rights Movement

During the 1960's, one of the most important events in history was taking place: the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr, the leader of this movement, is famous for his success in maintaining nonviolent measures to resist the harsh treatment him and fellow African Americans were receiving at the time. In an article located in a religious magazine written by Cesar Chavez, a labor union organizer as well as a civil rights leader, Chavez reminds his audience of Martin Luther King's handling of the civil rights movement and how it should be applied to the farmers movement that was currently taking place at the time. To achieve his goal, Chavez uses strategies such as a contrast organizational pattern, fear tactics using strong diction, and logical appeals in an effort to persuade his audience that nonviolent protest is much more effect than using violence.
Throughout the entire article Chavez discusses the effectiveness as well as the benefits of nonviolent resistance in contrast to the …show more content…
Towards the middle of the article he includes a brief discourse mentioning Ghandi, an immensely successful nonviolent protestor who was located in India. In paragraph nine, Chavez explains how "the boycott, as Ghandi taught, is the most nearly perfect instrument of nonviolent change"(61-62). Here he is describing how and why Ghandi was so successful and mentions it to advocate for his claim on the importance of maintaining nonviolent acts even in the situtation they are being forced to deal with. Later in the article Chaves brings up another point in history where he explains that the poor, or "the workers," are the ones who die when it comes to "violent revolution"(79). By bringing up these historical points he is reminding his audience that the likelihood of them achieving their goal is drastically decreased if they decide to resort to violence, which also aids him in gaining