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Mexican-American Rights

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Submitted By kelseacheller
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Mexican-American Rights

“We are not in the age of miracles, and yet it is surprising that we can attract, and keep, and increase the type of support that is needed to keep our economic struggle going for 33 months. It is a struggle in which the poorest of poor and the weakest of weak are pitted against the strongest of strong.” While reading this particular document about Cesar Chavez and his actions regarding Mexican American Civil Rights I was surprised to see how much of a role he played. Chavez was a Mexican American farm worker and his role was key in the organization of the unions fighting for the rights of farm workers in California-Mexico area. After I read this document my eyes were opened to how immigrants were treated when it came to their jobs as labor workers. I think that the information that Chavez presented in this document was very informative and given at a very accurate point of view. Through this document you can learn that immigrants were very poorly treated. This document also shows that there are many ways we have advanced as a country and society, where there are also ways that we have not. Just like now, the U.S. contracted out work to different countries. First it was the Philippines in the early twenties and then on to the Japanese when they moved to the U.S. and then when the population of Mexicans began to rise, the U.S. used them and allowed them temporary access to the United States. Some of the main cultural and social changes I noticed from this document were that there were tons of issues within the labor workers. Cesar Chavez witnessed all of this first hand, and this account gives the reader a look into what went on, on a more personal level. Rather than just listening facts, this primary source shows how throughout time the cultural and social aspects of labor unions

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