Delano Grape Strike: Philip Vera Cruz
** The following is written by our publicity chair for a R.A.F.T. prompt for a history class in high school. RAFT = Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. Here, they write as Philip Vera Cruz to a group of University students, giving a speech on the farmer's movement and Chavez. **
“For hours at a sitting, he lectured small groups of
university students, sometimes even just one at a time, about the
plight of California farmworkers, about the strike and boycott, about
Cesar Chavez, about the abuses of the growers and agribusiness, about
union democracy, about the capitalist system, about California politics,
about racial discrimination, about immigration, and so on. He was the
resident farmworker movement radical professor, and the more he
talked, the more the student visitors loved” (3)
Welcome, did you come a long way to get here? You want to learn about our movement here in Delano? Well, I welcome you.
Now, this strike and this boycott is an effort for us, the United Farm Workers to receive the wages and benefits we deserve. Us immigrants, both the Latinos as well as the Filipinos like myself, have been exploited. The working standards for us are ignored and if one group tries to strike, we are pitted against each other. That is why, in the creation if UFW, I believed that 'ethnic minorities and others exploited by a more powerful majority, be it business or government, must stand together" (1).
However, although our needs and goals are the same, the creation of United Farm Workers was not the easiest. I have experienced such friction between groups while organizing our union. We are often on edge, suspicious that one will try to take the upper hand, just because of our races. Our ethnic identities. However, that doesn't matter much. No matter what, both of our groups are equally exploited by business. "The differences are all on the surface. It is no good to point out some as scapegoats. [...] We're all human beings. To know them is to first know yourself. What hurts you, hurts them" (1).
Now the creation of this union, the UFW, was mainly because of the start of this grape strike. If you did not know already, we are boycotting grapes. This started with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, the union Larry Itliong and I had organized. We started and initiated this strike in 1965. Then later, the National Farm Workers Association which was led by Chavez himself came into the picture, and we asked him and the Latino farm workers to join us. Our unions came together during this strike. We are currently leading it, Chavez as our president, Dolores Huerta as well as Itliong and myself as the vice presidents.
Should I tell you more about myself? I came to America in the 1920’s to raise and send home money. I also want to make something out of myself. I can tell you now these are some common goals within our workers.
However, all this discrimination and humiliation is being endured everyday. I don’t want my family members to come here and see me like this. I don’t want them to know how I’m doing. I came to America to get a better life, and here I am, ashamed of my status in this country. I wouldn’t want any of my family members to endure this discrimination here.
Although I say the UFW is fighting for wages and benefits, Chavez’s goal is to weaken the life-or-death control of the job. Pitting groups, or even individual workers themselves, is just to drive down the income we receive.(2)
Our pay aside, the way we are forced to live for this job is terrible too. As we work, there are no field toilets, and often we must pay two dollars or more per day just for our shacks that we must live in. (4)
That is why we ask of you to help us. One of the largest agricultural products of this country is the grape, be it table or wine. Just by refusing to purchase the table grape not only helps us fight for our cause, it also helps us gain a sort of standing in this country. Do you understand?
About Chavez himself? He is himself, a good man. He values hard work. He wants our boycott to be continued without violence. He is hoping, as well as I am, that our workers and continue to work together, with the same picket lines, kitchen, and union hall.(3) He is a leader. He is what this union and all these people need. I respect him gratefully.
Actually, I came in hopes of getting a better education. But to do what I have to do, support my mother, my father, and my brother and sister, this is my current occupation. And I am dedicated to this movement, and I’m doing what I have to do to give my fair share. I hope you as well will support our cause, my friends.
References
07, November. "UFW Organizer Shares Lessons of an Activist's Life : Labor: Philip Vera Cruz Tells Cal State Northridge Students That Minorities Must Stand Together. His Visit Comes during a Time of Racial Strife on Campus." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 07 Nov. 1992. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <http://articles.latimes.com/1992-11-07/local/me-1355_1_philip-vera-cruz>.
Rodis, Rodel. "Philip Vera Cruz and Cesar Chavez." Inquirer Global Nation. N.p., 30 Nov.2012. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <http://globalnation.inquirer.net/58327/philip-vera-cruz-and-cesar-chavez>.
"UFW: The Official Web Page of the United Farm Workers of America." UFW: The Official Web Page of the United Farm Workers of America. United Farm Workers, 2006. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. <http://www.ufw.org/_page.php?menu=research>.
"UFW: The Official Web Page of the United Farm Workers of America." UFW: The Official Web Page of the United Farm Workers of America. United Farm Workers, 2006. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <http://www.ufw.org/_board.php?mode=view>.
