Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Chávez in Hollywood: A Roundtable: Cesar Chavez

Chávez in Hollywood: A Roundtable: Cesar Chavez Books and the Arts 95 United Farm Workers. He teaches California History Huerta as role models for social change activ- and Literature at California State University, ism? Young activists and millions of Latinos Monterey Bay. are still inspired by both. Barack Obama har- nessed the UFW’s “Si Se Puede” (“Yes We Can”) rallying cry in the 2008 presidential campaign and millions positively responded. Reviewed by: Randy Shaw There are César Chávez streets, schools, and DOI: 10.1177/1095796014545471 state holidays, yet vocal critics of the film have not publicly opposed these renaming efforts. When I saw a preview of the new César Chávez I argued, in Beyond the Fields: César film, I did not foresee that some progressives Chávez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice would harshly criticize it. My audience included in the 21st Century, that Chávez mattered hundreds of young Latinos inspired and excited because he launched a movement that pio- by César Chávez’s standing up to growers, neered critical strategies and tactics that sheriffs, and the Central Valley’s white power helped build the immigrant rights movement structure. They saw Chávez’s principled defi- and other social justice campaigns. I wrote ance as a model for their own challenges to about how he brought down his own move- immigration laws that break up families and ment but felt that his impact should also be cause misery for millions of Latinos. Dolores measured by his providing the leading incuba- Huerta attended the preview, and people lined tor for young activists of the era. The UFW up to be photographed with her. turned two generations of young people into But critics of the film ignore its impact on lifelong activists for change. promoting activism today. Instead, they chal- César Chávez also did more to increase lenge the movie’s deification of Chávez and its Latino political empowerment in the United portrayal of the farmworkers movement as built States than anyone in U.S. history. His by a great man named César Chávez rather than California electoral operation became the tem- by other key organizers and thousands of vol- plate for Barack Obama’s 2008 grassroots unteers. Critics also complain that the film campaign, laying the groundwork for huge ignores how, starting in the late 1970s, Chávez Latino voter turnout increases in California forced key organizers and volunteers out of the and the formerly red states of Colorado and UFW, undermining the movement he launched. Florida. This film was not made for the farmworker Critics of the film ignore its impact movement’s historians, or for former UFW volun- on promoting activism today. teers. It was made to inspire a new generation of activists to pursue social and economic justice. The film should have broadly credited all That is the big picture critics of the film have those who built the UFW, and ended in 1975, missed. when Governor Brown signed the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, rather than 1970. But the story critics want told of Chávez’s Author Biography “dark side” would be an entirely different Randy Shaw is the author of four books on activism, movie, and it is a story already told in over a including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social dozen books. Change in the 21st Century and Beyond the Fields: César Chávez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is the director of San Why Does Chávez Matter? Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic and editor of the online news site BeyondChron.org. How do progressive campaigns benefit by undermining César Chávez and Dolores http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png New Labor Forum SAGE

Chávez in Hollywood: A Roundtable: Cesar Chavez

Shaw, Randy
New Labor Forum , Volume 23 (3): 1 – Sep 1, 2014
Download PDF
1 page

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/ch-vez-in-hollywood-a-roundtable-cesar-chavez-7bj8ce00Tg
Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2014, The Murphy Institute, City University of New York
ISSN
1095-7960
eISSN
1557-2978
DOI
10.1177/1095796014545471
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Books and the Arts 95 United Farm Workers. He teaches California History Huerta as role models for social change activ- and Literature at California State University, ism? Young activists and millions of Latinos Monterey Bay. are still inspired by both. Barack Obama har- nessed the UFW’s “Si Se Puede” (“Yes We Can”) rallying cry in the 2008 presidential campaign and millions positively responded. Reviewed by: Randy Shaw There are César Chávez streets, schools, and DOI: 10.1177/1095796014545471 state holidays, yet vocal critics of the film have not publicly opposed these renaming efforts. When I saw a preview of the new César Chávez I argued, in Beyond the Fields: César film, I did not foresee that some progressives Chávez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice would harshly criticize it. My audience included in the 21st Century, that Chávez mattered hundreds of young Latinos inspired and excited because he launched a movement that pio- by César Chávez’s standing up to growers, neered critical strategies and tactics that sheriffs, and the Central Valley’s white power helped build the immigrant rights movement structure. They saw Chávez’s principled defi- and other social justice campaigns. I wrote ance as a model for their own challenges to about how he brought down his own move- immigration laws that break up families and ment but felt that his impact should also be cause misery for millions of Latinos. Dolores measured by his providing the leading incuba- Huerta attended the preview, and people lined tor for young activists of the era. The UFW up to be photographed with her. turned two generations of young people into But critics of the film ignore its impact on lifelong activists for change. promoting activism today. Instead, they chal- César Chávez also did more to increase lenge the movie’s deification of Chávez and its Latino political empowerment in the United portrayal of the farmworkers movement as built States than anyone in U.S. history. His by a great man named César Chávez rather than California electoral operation became the tem- by other key organizers and thousands of vol- plate for Barack Obama’s 2008 grassroots unteers. Critics also complain that the film campaign, laying the groundwork for huge ignores how, starting in the late 1970s, Chávez Latino voter turnout increases in California forced key organizers and volunteers out of the and the formerly red states of Colorado and UFW, undermining the movement he launched. Florida. This film was not made for the farmworker Critics of the film ignore its impact movement’s historians, or for former UFW volun- on promoting activism today. teers. It was made to inspire a new generation of activists to pursue social and economic justice. The film should have broadly credited all That is the big picture critics of the film have those who built the UFW, and ended in 1975, missed. when Governor Brown signed the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, rather than 1970. But the story critics want told of Chávez’s Author Biography “dark side” would be an entirely different Randy Shaw is the author of four books on activism, movie, and it is a story already told in over a including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social dozen books. Change in the 21st Century and Beyond the Fields: César Chávez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is the director of San Why Does Chávez Matter? Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic and editor of the online news site BeyondChron.org. How do progressive campaigns benefit by undermining César Chávez and Dolores

Journal

New Labor Forum – SAGE

Published: Sep 1, 2014

There are no references for this article.