"UFW: The Official Web Page of the United
Farm Workers of America." UFW: The Official
Web Page of
the United Farm Workers of America. 01 May 2012.
The Role of United
Farm Workers Association (UFW) in America
United Farm Workers Association (UFW) played a vital role in improving the lives
of farm working communities of the California. After a fierce struggle against
growers, government and the police, its establishment in 1962 was a probe result
of collective effort by many, and the outcomes were so astounding. As an
organization, United Farm Workers, (UFW), brought,
“The first
union contracts eliminating farm labor contractors and guaranteeing farm
workers seniority, rights and job security, establishing the first
comprehensive union health benefits for farm workers and their families through
the UFW's Robert F. Kennedy Medical Plan, the first and only functioning
pension plan for retired farm workers, the Juan de la Cruz Pension Plan, the
first functioning credit union for farm workers, the first union contracts
regulating safety and sanitary conditions in farm labor camps, banning
discrimination in employment and sexual harassment of women workers, the first
union contracts providing for profit sharing and parental leave.”
It took long
time for United Farm Workers Association to be recognized by growers and
government bodies as an intermediate body working on behalf of farm workers.
All the hiring and legal matters related to the farm workers will be dealt by
the union. The perseverance of the union leaders and specially Cesar Chavez and
Dolores Huerta was outstanding. Good organization needs smart and brave people.
The union’s transcendent work is still in effect. The level of trust farm
workers put on their union is glue which can’t be separated from the union.
Success is comes with hard work. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly
do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” The Union has been doing the
same thing over and over again.
One of the key
players of the UFW was Dolores Huerta. In all the strikes, the leading
expertise of Cesar would have been a failure if it was not the skillful negotiator
of Ms. Huerta. As a teacher and a well to do family member, she didn’t wait and
set hoping for change to come to the people’s way. Rather she picked up the “Hulugna”
and continued to fight the fight of what people thought men’s fight. Besides,
bringing powerful people to the table for discussion is half the battle but
persuades farmers’ opponents was the other half. Using her knowledge and
language skills, Huerta pushed hard and made growers to agree with the best terms
the union brought forth and this was the enormous achievement. Huerta once
said, “I couldn’t stand seeing farm worker children come to class hungry and in
need of shoes. I thought I could do more by organizing farm workers than by
trying to teach their hungry children.” She has done what she has committed her
life for and her commitment was magnanimous.
Levy, Jacques E., and Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2007. Print.
Cesar Chavez, leader of the United Farm Workers had proven that nonviolence was the only way to address the unspeakable horrors and unprecedented challenges the farm workers had to endure at the farms and inside the communities. Chavez once said, “But in seeking social change, I am positive nonviolence is the way, morally and tactically, especially in our society where those in power resort to clubs, tear gas, and guns. I have seen nonviolence work many times in many ways. (5)." I will be discussing the noble idea of nonviolence activism which lead the UFW to big legislation of collective bargaining, health and benefit packages and the grant of amnesty by the United States of America.
The United Farm workers
Union of America claimed, “For more than a century farm workers had been denied
a decent life in the fields and communities of California's agricultural
valleys.” Unskilled labors Chicanos, African Americans, Filipinos, Mexicans
(who have come through the Bracero Program that Mexico signed with the United
States of America) and some poor white farm workers were exploited, exposed to
harmful chemicals while working in farms, suppressed and denied better life
both on farm and in the communities they lived in. Many farm workers were
forced to pay rent for shacked metal sheets, discriminated by farm contractors,
used children as part of the labor force. Due to these reason people have died even
with preventable accidents and the average life expectancy during that period
was 49 years.
Brave farm workers like
Dolores Huerta, Chicano, andLarry Itliong, Filipino, attempted
and established race based farm workers associations namely the “Agricultural
Workers Association” (AWA) and “Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee
(AWOC)” respectively. These courageous men paved a way for a more organized
association founded in 1962, “United Farm Workers, (UFW)” and its leader, the rising
star by the name of Cesar Estrada Chavez. Chavez was born on March 31, 1927. He
was named after his grandfather, Cesario. Chavez’s experience of injustice started
with his own family. According to UFW, “Cesar's
father agreed to clear eighty acres of land and in exchange he would receive
the deed to forty acres of land that adjoined the home. The agreement was
broken and the land sold to a man named Justus Jackson. Cesar's dad went to a
lawyer who advised him to borrow money and buy the land. Later when Cesar's
father could not pay the interest on the loan the lawyer bought back the land
and sold it to the original owner. Cesar learned a lesson about injustice that
he would never forget.” He walked
the walk of many poor farm workers, experienced atrocities and removed from their
own properties, Chaves and his colleagues became more determined facilitating
the formation of the United Farmers Association.
As the repression continued,
influenced by his education and studies of different revolutions, Chavez and
his partners worked to follow a more peaceful approach in resolving problems of
farm workers. Besides, the coincidence of the national Civil Rights Movement
added fuel in to the already rising pressure on the Agricultural frontier in
California and Arizona. In the history of the United States of America,
according to UFW, collective Bargaining, health benefit packages, job security,
provision of drinking water, field toilet and rest periods between working hours, and many more became the success stories of
the UFW. Achieving these results demanded
Chavez’s and his colleagues’ dedication, extended hunger strikes, and marching,
boycotting and other methods. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the known political and
spiritual leaders of the modern history of the world once said, “Cultivate the quite courage of dying without
killing.” Chavez’s struggle is upheld
by many till this time; and for his contributions to the lives of many poor
farmers and their families, he was commemorated. “Si, si se puede!”
(“Yes, yes, it can be done”). Even in today’s world, such basic rights had been overshadowed and threatened by States. Recently, collective bargaining was
killed silently by Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker. However, unions perform
mass protest and resulted in the recall of the governor. Collective efforts by
many always stand strong and will eventually bring results. However, a quick response from ordinary people and working class members pushed back using
nonviolent demonstrations. Through out the history of early establishment of the UFW association, persistence and perseverance paid back
for those who joined the revolution of the farm industries. Unity is strength.
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made; I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,Chorus How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander, And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing; Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation, And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow, in humble adoration, And then proclaim:"My God, how great Thou art!"
In 1886, not knowing how many people would be touched in his days or the years to come, Reverend Carl Boberg of Monsteras, lived on the South East coast of Sweden, 25 years old, with his own language, wrote and published the first lyrics of a song, “How Great Thou Art”. The depth of the lyrics assimilated naturally occurring phenomena, the perpetual saving passion of the Creator and the new life beyond death with God. Has anyone been taken away by the amazing nature of roaring ocean storms? The sound it makes while colliding with the rocky shores? How up and down the wave moves? If a surfer is asked about it, he would reply in an articulated fashion about the highs and lows of the ocean waves do for and to him. Has anyone been walking through a thick forest where so diverse flock of birds sings in harmony however, with distinct tones? How breathe taking would that be for anyone who is actually nature lover? The stars and their galaxies displayed in the Universe have a majestic demonstration, the manifestation of the Creator's knowledge and intelligent workmanship. Intercession, confession, praise, worship, Celebration songs were some of the types practiced trough out history. Among these, “How Great Thou Art” is a worship type in which admiration and adoration is given for a creator; many believe his existence in our day to day life.
Many Christians claimed this song to be one of the most played and adored song among many more ever written in the history of the Christian gospel music as the hymn was translated from Swedish language to Russian then to English. After forty years of the original script written and published by Boberg; Stuart Hine, an English missionary, who was living in Ukraine, heard this very meaningful song performed in native Russian language. As he advanced to the former Czechoslovakia, people acclimated to it ahead of him. Hine, whom felt the tranquil, then translate this awesome song in to English language and moreover added a few words on to it. Not only in Russia, but also in many communist countries like mine, people were touched by the graphic and well illuminated elaboration exhibited by the hymn. It was irresistible for so many communities and went on to be translated into many different native languages. Thus helped more Christians connected in spirit while singing it though in different language at different locations.
Enthusiastically, such flawless songs gave Christians with culminated performance pulled people touched or connected with the higher power in their inner being. Majority of Christians sincerely believe lyrics should adhere to certain tones and rhythms in order for listeners would give them ears. Beverly Shea, 102, was considered to be one of the most aspiring and astounding gospel singers in the Evangelical sect history of the United States of America. He was a member of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association where he performed during mass preaching ceremonies for more than 60 years. Shea gave the lyrics of Boberg a meaningful tone and touch and reached peoples' hearts with the help of 1,800 mass back vocalists as shown in the clip. It helped the audience communion with an enlighten imagination of nature and God's creativity in making this world habitable, however to the contrast its perishable stunned people across nations till today. The wonders of creation are incomparable to the mystery of the creator himself.
I read the short story by Gloria Anzaldua, "How To Tame A Wild Tongue". I was stacked and freeze at my computer when I read, " Chicano Spanish is considered by the purist and by most Latinos deficient, a mutilation of Spanish". Besides another quote, " For a people who are neither Spanish nor live in a country in which Spanish is the first language; for a people who live in a country in which English is the reigning tongue but who are not Anglo; for a people who cannot identify with either standtad (formal, Castilian) Spanish nor standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language? A language which they can connect their identity to, one capable of communicating the realities and values true to themselves---- a language with terms that are neither espanol ni inglise, but both." After the thorough reading over the weekend and today; I, kind of get the idea what all these Spanish words mean and how they can to connected to the paragraph. I believe that people who have freedom, eventual will the have the power and knowledge to be successful and productive. Identifying oneself or society should not be judged or procrastinated by other who dominate the culture and the language arena. Some of the words resembled the original English words, for instance "adopcion" meaning adoption . It is chunked and has so much impressive information and well explained. Reading this story made me think that even if the situations are different, in the country where 70 ethincities live together, repression to other languages, cultures and societies fight before extinction.
In my reading of, "How To Tame
A Wild Tongue" by Gloria Anzaldua, she touch so many of the buttons which
resonate in to how I define identity. Simply, identity is how someone portrayed
or sees him answering the basic purpose of existence. In her short story,
Gloria showed how language, family, community, religion, and environment
had shaped her identity. I like the emphasis and the power of language
in Anzaldua writing, “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly
about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity- I am my
language."
Gebremedhin Teshale
I am no different than most of the
people in my class. But the influence and shaping power my dad had on me was so
immense. My dad, Gebremedhin Teshale, was very honest, impartial, courageous,
bright minded, faithful and religious man. He was born and rise in a family of
13 children with a very strict father in a very remote village where there is
no school, health clinic----nothing was there. Sincerely looking for education,
he moved in to a provincial town called Dessie, where his uncle, a priest
resided. Finally he found and joined elementary school where any level of
education considered to a man being, "Civilized". After this, he got
married, bare children, hired and worked as an accountant for 36 years in Boru
Meda Hospital located in Ethiopia. During his time of service, he made
the Hospital profitable by working hard and being honest towards his assignment
on the stewardship of money. The Hospital he worked for stood most of the time
first and other times second among other Hospitals in our Province. Besides, he
was a man of God. He had faith that made him stood by on what he believed. He stood
for justice and equal rights. He fought for many victims who were betrayed
by the higher management and continued to be an advocate to the poor. In
response he got pushed out of his position and even transferred to another
location. He never quit there. He took the injustice done to him to the
regional Supreme Court and at last found justice. Nonetheless, the provincial
government ignored the decision of the higher court and went on doing business
as usual. In all these, I saw a man of honor integrity, persistence,
perseverance and never say no to thing. He shaped me to be honest, respectful, and
faithful above all to have a faith in God and his son Jesus Christ. Till the
time I moved in to California, I lived and worked with so many people and all
over the country that have different language, culture and personality than me.
And I managed to live with them in harmony, peace, personal integrity and with
a sense of purpose.
