"It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life." "An Organizer's Tale" anthologizes many of the speeches and writings of Cesar Chavez, a farm laborer and union organizer for migrant farm workers in the United States. What can be gleaned from this collection is that Chavez' life focus had been on the unrepresented poor and exploited migrant farm workers who face constant health problems from working with chemically treated produce, work long hours for pittance pay, and suffer general exploitation from growers who count on their invisibility separation from the general population. Most of all it can be said that he organized behind the idea that all humans are equal, and that social justice is something to struggle for from the ground up with the effected masses rather than the process getting mired in the ideologies, bureaucracy, and monetary requirements that halt the progress of other social organizations. His means of instigating change, whether through boycotts, strikes, or fasting, were always inspired by and carried out in the nonviolence inspired by the civil rights movement as well as the actions and teachings of Gandhi. This books is arranged chronologically and includes further readings, a timeline of Chavez' life, and a further collection of quotes from other sources.
Links:
The United Farm Workers
Citation Information:
Chavez, C., & Stavans, I. (2008). An organizer's tale: Speeches. Penguin classics. New York: Penguin Group.
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