“7pm showing to the Cesar Chavez movie is sold out!” Many Portland locals received this news through social media last Friday March 28. The film premier not only sold out here it Portland but in many states around the United States. While sitting in the movie theatre you could observe not only Latino leaders in the audience but also the many faces of youth, elders, mothers, and people from various diverse backgrounds. Diego Luna, the film director of the Cesar Chavez movie, made a huge push for people to be aware of the importance of having everyone watch this film.
Just like every Hollywood film there were good critiques and bad critiques. Yet the ultimate purpose was not on whether the actors could truly conveyed the passion that Cesar Chavez and the rest of the UFW had but rather to just have people learn about the immense work that this team did.
Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla had learned community organizing in the Community Service Organization (CSO), which was set up in Mexican American neighborhoods in California in the 1950s by Fred Ross. In CSO, organizers helped people with everyday problems – filling out tax forms, getting children into schools, studying for citizenship. They taught people that when they came together they could make positive changes in their lives. This same approach was then tried in the fields.
From 1962 to 1965 Cesar Chavez and the organizers traveled up and down California’s agricultural valleys, talking to people, holding house meetings, helping with problems, and inviting farmworkers to join their new organization. From this work and collaboration the United Farm Workers Union was created.
United Farm Workers Union was founded in 1962 as the National Farm Workers Association. The union merged with the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in 1966. The work of the union became about the collective bargaining rights for farmworkers in the United States.
Many people have heard the name Cesar Chavez because somewhere around their neighborhood a street is names after this leader. But many do not get to read about the history and impact that this man and his colleagues made. By offering the community an opportunity to get even just a glimpse of all the work that these leaders did, enables us to keep fighting for workers’ rights. It provides a ray of hope that if a group of people in the 1960’s were able to have the whole country and other countries participate in a boycott then why can’t we do the same when it comes to so many issues that affect our community.
Here at Lara Media Services we too are always reminding ourselves of the struggles that our community faces and are constantly reminded of the work these great leaders did. As Cesar Chavez said, “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” And this has become a commitment that Lara Media Services has and will continue to follow.
-Yaneira Romero