2016 Cesar Chavez Essay Contest, 1st place Winner, Adult Category
How has Cesar Chavez influenced your life and what impact will his work have on your future?
By: Angela Saxton, Atlanta, GA
My introduction to the Civil Rights Movement began early, with conversations on the couch with my father discussing what it means to be “of color” in the USA. In my early years of education the civil rights movement was presented to me as three paragraphs in my history book. While in college violent images of the movement were burned into my growing conscious and cognizant mind; as a student seeking the experiences of civil right leaders through the academic disciplines of African American Lit and Ethnic studies. Caesar Chavez was one civil rights leader that helped me understand the breadth of the movement and its impact on the identity of those that constitute working America. Caesar Chavez’s leadership in labor organizing for farm workers prompted in me, vivid memories of my first high school job where I received my first lesson in the colors of inequality, justice and change.
I was approached by a school administrator about a summer job, as a teacher’s assistant for the migrant workers summer school program. When I was hired I was asked to also take a position as a bus attendant in the program. My youthful ignorance was chipped away that summer, in the hours I spent on the bus driving over the beaten down dirt roads that connected the swamp lands across South Western Michigan. My eyes watched children running from houses that were missing windows, roofs, and doors. Families of 15 to 20 people living in 1 bedroom trailers during the berry, and cucumber picking seasons. My ears listened to many student’s stories and explanations on of why they missed a full week of school, their parents needed help in the fields. The farming fields provided no relief from the harsh summer elements, no access to restrooms, or no safety and security for the mothers, fathers, children, and grandparents working 15 hour days. I reflect back on this experience, and know that my anger toward the mistreatment of farm workers was not miss placed. The work environment was not normal in the main stream work place, and the lack of appropriate working living conditions, pay was inhumane. The same principles that Chavez’s fought for in his labor work in 1962 sadly in 1998 was the same.
Chavez work continues to impact how I view my role in activism, and organizing. As well as the lens that I observe the movement, it is no longer exclusively black, or a battle between white and black. It is about intention and commitment to social responsibility. My future in this work has to come from a place of love, respecting others experiences, differences, and journeys to seek out a better life. I gladly honor our Civil Rights ancestor Caesar Chavez and thank him for opening my understanding to who is in the fight for justice and equality. The fight for the rights of all Americans is not complete.