Sincerely, Cesar Chavez

Transcription

1 Today I ve learned that there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who work hard for what they want. And then there are those who take advantage of those who work hard. It all started when I was driving down a road and realized I needed gas. Right across the street, I spotted a local farm, where a couple of black automobiles had just driven in. From my past experience of being a son of a family of extremely poor farmworkers, in Delano, California, I could say that those men weren t there to have a friendly encounter with those people. At that moment I realized it was my duty as a Community Servicer to help those farmers. As I step forward towards the barn, the men in black suits were apparently done with their conversation and were leaving. I was too late. Luckily, coming over wasn t a complete waste of my time. The farm workers were very kind and shared their life story to me. I also told them about myself. How I help people in need, and how I wanted to help them. Little did I know, that helping these people would be a huge impact on not only their lives but mine too. It was going to be a start of a new beginning. Sincerely, Cesar Chavez I ve decided to build up my own group of people who cared and wanted to help farmworkers. I called it National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). The reason for this was partly because my former group Community Service Organization (CSO) didn t want to support any farmworkers in need. It was

2 mainly for those I promised to help increase their wages. On the bright side of things, people with big hearts have been joining every single day. Remember those farmers who I met the other day and promised to help. I kept that promise and fulfilled it. The NFWA took a stand to strike, forcing the men in black to raise their wages to $1.25 per hour. It felt so good fighting for what we wanted, I felt so in powered and I can tell that the group felt the same way by the looks on their faces. The farmworkers who we helped were so grateful that they joined our group to support the cause. I just hoped that we would get more and more people to join to make this group a success. And with God s help we ll accomplish that goal and raise all farmworkers wages. Sincerely, Cesar Chavez A lot of progress has been made in the farmworker community. Wages have been raised, and the group has been multiplying. Farmers from all over the nation would call the NFWA, and we would always be there. It felt so incredible to get to meet all of these people along the way, especially knowing that I would be making a difference in their lives. There was only one problem. I worried sometimes that we might be getting too high and noticed in the world that there would one

3 day be a power greater than ours, that would put an end to our progress. Every time we boycott,the challenge gets harder and harder. Once, while we were on strike we almost weren t able to handle it. When out of nowhere about 6 trucks came filled with people who claimed to want to help. Apparently they were from another farm workers organization called AWOC who were inspired by my actions. What a relief it was to know that there are more of us who try to make a difference in the world we live in. Sincerely, Cesar Today was rather disturbing. I was talking with the founder of AWOC and he brings up the fact that we need a union. I thought that getting a union would end underpaid farm workers for good. At the time I was all for it, and then an old man came to our organization. This man seemed crazy just by the way he looked. He barely had any hair on the top of his head, he had a hunch, and one pupil was bigger than the other. And if that wasn t enough, he started to warn me about what I was causing. Something about me leading thousands of people to their death. Then I escorted him to the exit where he said, You ve been warned. I discussed what he said with my consultants, who also said the man was crazy and was probably sent by one of the growers who

4 wanted us to stop. This is just what I said would happen; people were trying to stop us with warning and signs, but I know eventually it ll get severely worse. I think I will have to shut this down before it gets real. This is Cesar Chavez signing out Dear diary, For the past weeks now the old kook would always show up in the morning to warn us by saying the same thing. I wanted to believe him but I also wanted to support my group. Which is why I decided to gather everyone and pray before we went off. Today, I planned for both organizations to march to the city to get a union for farmworkers everyone. What a surprise it was to see that the public also joined in on the march. A news reporter was also recording us live and broadcasting it all over the country. Our message was going to be to everyone. And to think I had any doubts in my group. Now they ll have to give us a union, or so I thought they would. I could clearly see police cars coming from all around to tame our doings. And then we all commenced to chant out NOSOTROS NO PODEMOS SER SILENCIADOS, WE CAN'T BE SILENCED! Everyone merged in, yet no sign of the growers or men in black breaking. I was so proud and tired and believed that my men could handle this, so I returned to the organization also known as my house, to rest. This is Cesar Chavez Signing Out

5 Because of today I regret ever having anything to do with these farmworkers. It was too much of a challenge for anyone to hold, and it was never any of our businesses to step into everyone's problems. I wish I realized that before I got too far in, or at least until this morning. I woke up and was about to go back to the march. But this time the old kook never showed up to warn me. I just supposed that he gave up trying to make us quit. But when I went to the central location to boycott once again, there were tons of people with black suits surrounding the place, the police were also involved. One cop pulled out a bullhorn and yelled out leave now before this gets ugly! Boy, we should have listened. The thousands of us who let the success get over our heads kept going. And that s when the cops and black suited people began bulldozing us. Some of us were even arrested. As I said before, there were thousands of people in the group, meaning there were more people on our side than theirs. Which forced the police to pull out their guns. All I can say is I m lucky I even got out of there alive. (Everyone makes mistakes.) Sincerely, Cesar