Mexican American history

Refer to “The Organizer’s Tale” by Cesar Chavez and “Brown Beret National Policies” from pages 205-223 in Latino/a Thought. What similarities or differences can you see in how each article described the lack of social justice for Mexican Americans and in the solutions each of them proposed for it?

 Answer

Mexican-American History

When looking at the two articles, “The Organizer’s Tale” by Cesar Chavez and “Brown Beret National Policies,” a lot of similarities are depicted how social justice of Mexican-Americans were eroded. In both cases, there was a massive gap in a disparity between haves and have-nots, and violence and hatred were caused. Before the Chicano and United Farm Workers Movement, It was common to see prejudice against the Mexican-Americans on an everyday basis.

Discrimination was evidently demonstrated in hotels, court hearings, and some public places with signs saying “No Mexicans Allowed” or “Only White,” which triggered Mexican-Americans to stand up and act. Besides, the articles outline the similarities of the movements which were facilitated by Cesar Chavez and Brown Beret, the United Farm Workers Movement, and Chicano movement, respectively. In both movements, the objectives were to restore the land and reform education, fair wages, benefits, and pleasant human working conditions for the majority of the farmworkers.

Generally, both the Chicano Movement and the United Farm Workers movement did much more than change laws and working conditions for Mexican workers. They gave Mexican-Americans the expression they legally deserved and made everybody aware of the severity of prejudice and unequal laws.

However, the actions taken towards solving these social injustices, as denoted in the articles, seemed to differ in some ways as Cesar Chavez resolved to go for nonviolence and peaceful demonstration. The Brown Beret article, however, indicates that the organization does not entirely condemn violence, as does Chavez. Therefore, his movement sometimes employed tactics that were violent. The article also points out that there are three ways of applying pressure: through direct communication with individuals or agencies, you seek to change, through protests or pickets and through any necessary means.