Sept. 19, 2024

Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez

Cesario Estrada Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist.. He co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, along with Dolores Huerta, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United...

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Cesario Estrada Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist.. He co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, along with Dolores Huerta, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers labor union.

In part one, Cristina tells Carmen about Cesar Chavez' early lif, the troubles and tribulations and the beginning of the UFW. By the end of these episodes, we'll learn about the downfall of the UFW and the ties between Cesar Chavez and Synanon.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email Historiasunknownpodcast@gmail.com or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex


Sources
The Crusades of Cesar Chavez by Miriam Pawel
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-madness-of-cesar-chavez/308557/
https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/spl/coplonchavez2vv84.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Chavez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Lewis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi
https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/culture/legend-unraveled
https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/januaryfebruary/curio/new-biography-cesar-chavez-unearths-grittytruth#:~:text=The%20union%20organizer%20was%20vehemently,friends%2C%20allies%2C%20and%20mentors.
https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/cesar-chavez-complicated-legacy-united-farm-workers-immigration/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-29/cesar-chavez-problematic-miriam-pawel

WEBVTT

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Hello, Hello, this is editing Christina. Just a warning that

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I accidentally like a newbe podcast or I accidentally selected

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my laptop mic for the entire recording of this episode,

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and so it sounds a little off. But sorry, I

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hope that doesn't take away from the episode anyway. Enjoy

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the episode. Thank you, Hi everyone. This is Carmen and

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Christina and this is Estodia's Unknown, a podcast where we

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talk about Latin American history. Sometimes it's horrible and deals

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with Tybee topics like racism, corruption, and genocide. But more

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than that, it's also about resistance, how we're in community

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and Carmen Today, it's a little bit of everything, as

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you like to say, Actually that's not what I like

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to say, No you'd like to say. I don't know.

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It's a little bit of this and a little bit

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of that. Yeah, yeah, you're right, my bad. Yeah, today's topic.

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And also the next episode after this, this is a

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two parter, I'm going to be talking about Sis sat Chavis.

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But now you're an elementary school version, the hater edition. Yeah,

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you could say. And this isn't to cancel someone. This

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is just a show, not that I have the power

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of one to cancel anyone. Oh so I don't canceling

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is not really even a thing, right, No, it's not.

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Miss Dalisol is fully out there still doing her thing.

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So you know, like no one really gets canceled, no one.

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I just like to ruin things for people. And two,

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this is just a show that no one is perfect

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at all, Like people are just human heroes, They're just human,

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you know. And also, one of the only Latin X

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related history we learn in school is Sa sat Chavis.

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And we learn this, you know, I don't know, glorified version,

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just like two, yeah, of everything else. So it's okay,

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it's okay to talk about the real things. It's okay

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to get a full picture, you know. Yeah, and to

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talk about the wrongs, not the rights of someone, right right, yeah.

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And I mean it goes without saying. This is literally,

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like you said, one of the only things we learned

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about Latino history. And like us schools, without a doubt,

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you're going to hear so sat chavist and a lot.

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I mean, there's like at least fifty two schools named

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after him, thirty seven parts, forty seven libraries, and eighty

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two streets. Did you know that? Wait? Sorry, say that again.

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I heard eighty two something. Okay, there's at least but

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they two schools named after so sat Chavist thirty seven parts,

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fifty seven libraries and eighty two streets in the US. Wow, wow, wow,

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second only probably to Martin Luther King, especially after you know,

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white people in the Unied States decided to stop or

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to rename things the racist figures like uh Davis School

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or mir or John Muir Park, right, things like that,

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So schools after, says Chavist, those names are never going

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to change because, like you cannot deny he's an important person.

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He did important things for the Latin American community in

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the US, Like there's no denying that. Yeah, but yeah,

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I just want to give the dark side the dark

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such as dark you know, that's what I want to

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do here, dark Sessa, if you will, like dark Biden

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or whatever. Do they say, I don't know what that is?

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Oh yeah, you know when he posted a memo of

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himself with like laser eye. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

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that's what I want to do here. Will you post

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it like that also on Instagram? No, I can't, it's

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too much. Yeah yeah, yeah right, we're not that silly. No,

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we're not that silly. That's yeah, that's beyond I might.

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I mainly want to do this just because I think

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a lot of people don't know about the times between

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ce Sar Chavis and siting on. Oh neither. Oh do

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you know what? You know what Synanon is and you

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know I know I will for sure be explaining. Wow,

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I am already shook. But it's basically a cult and

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the predecessor to the Trouble Team industry. Yikes, big yikes. Yeah,

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there are ties. So that is all going to be

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impart too, because again you can't, I can't do just

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the bad. I have to talk about basically everything, right,

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and that's what part one it's going to be. We're

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just gonna do like a little history here I guess

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of Sasar Chavis. So now that I've done a little

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MENI intro, let's just get into it. Cesadio Estrada Chaves

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was born March thirty first, nineteen twenty seven. I didn't

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even know that was I didn't know that was his

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given name. Look at you already learning new things in

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five minutes or less. Wow. Wow, And this is why

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I take part in this. Of course, this is why

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you're part of this podcast. Yes, yeah, because you Yeah,

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we're both just here learning, you know, right. Also March

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thirty first Wood becomes such chavistay and he was born

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in Yuma, Arizona. He was named after his abuelito, who

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migrated from Mexico to Texas in eighteen ninety eight. Cesario

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Senior was also known as Papa Chayo, and it said

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that he fled Mexico to avoid being forced into the

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Mexican Army, although it's not like confirmed either. They're fleeing

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either way, they're fleeing, like you know, for a better life.

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So they lived in El Paso for some time before

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heading west to Arizona, and Papa Chaio started a successful

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wood haulleen business near Yuma, Arizona, and they bought a

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farm in the Sonorian Desert there in nineteen oh six.

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Sorry if you can hear my child screaming. He then

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brought Dorotea, his wife, and his eight kids over. The

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youngest of the eight kids was Librado Travis. This is

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Asa Travis's father, Librado. Librado married Juana in the early

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nineteen twenties. She was from Assension, Chihuahua, and migrated to

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the US as a baby in her with her mother

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like in her arms. That's how they went from Mexico.

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A very difficult journey, you know, the one there were

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no boarders, Like, that's a difficultest journey no matter when. Yeah,

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they lived in Picacho, California, before moving to Yuma, Arizona,

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and that is where Juana and Librado met, and Juana

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worked as a farm laborer. Later she became an assistant

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to the chancellor of the University of Arizona, which seems

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like a pretty esteemed position to me. I don't know. Oh, okay.

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They got married at an age that was considered late

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thirty five and thirty seven. That's that is late, that's

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even late for now. And the status are like that's

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that's only considered average for like a big city here now,

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so exactly, so back then for two Mexicans. Wild and

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I'm really not sure why it took so long. Interesting, Yeah,

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I'm just saying thirty five, thirty seven. And before he

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passed away, Papa Chaio joked that Quana were married into

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the Travis family. Her sister was married to Sessad Chavis's brother.

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Oh wow, and then her half sister was married to

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a nephew of Paba Chaios, so that's always weird that happened,

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so it does happen, and they wasted no time. Librado

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and Plana's first child was born in August nineteen twenty five.

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They named her Rita, two years to the date Sessad

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was born. That's the second child. And then there was

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a yeah, sorry not to the date a little earlier

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because his birthday's March. But yeah, I don't know. I

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said that. Yeah either way, very quick, like basically back

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after back pregnancies was one point of that that's also

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stayed in because I need to correct my misinformation. Live, yeah, Live.

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The couple had bought a group of buildings near their

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home that included a pool hall, store and living quarters,

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but then they fell into debt because Librado has some

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gambling issues, so they had to sell these buildings. Sisa

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Chavez was born into the you know, regular extended Mexican

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family where it's multi generational and while they were not rich,

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they were okay, they were never they never went hungry

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and they're close fit and yeah that is like the standard,

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right close fit and you never go hungry. You're okay. Yeah,

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you're good, You're solid and exactly. It was a Spanish

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speaking household and Roman Catholic Papachio's wife, Tisata's grandma, was

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in charge of teaching the Catholic teaching the religion to

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the grand children basically, and his mom practiced a more

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like folk Catholicism type thing, which you think a lot

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of you know, Mexican moms do. She was very devoted

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to saints, but she also you know, believed in thekurandrismo

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and all that. She also taught her children the importance

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of helping others and the need for personal sacrifice, which

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would become like a core value to Sisset Travis. Every

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year on October sixteenth, on the day of Saint And

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I don't know how to say the saint's name. I

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didn't even look it up. It's E d U V

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I G E s is the Saint. Just move on

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VI I G move on, okay, Saint. No, sorry, I

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don't know, I don't know. But anyway, yeah, seriously, so

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October sixteenth this the Saint's feast day, and she would

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send her kids to find homeless people to feed on

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that day, so very a very selfless person, says. Travis's

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nickname as a child was Mansi because he loved Mansania

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tea and it just ran that is so Mexican coded. No,

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I know. Our father called Carmen for like a while

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because he liked which is honestly delicious. I miss it.

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I miss it so much, so good, it is delicious.

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If you have a chance to go get some about

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please do it. So yeah, that's just a very Mexican

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thing to do. Someone auf there something they like, So yeah,

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that was his nickname, Manti. He had two sisters, Rita

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and Vicki, and then two brothers, Richard and Librado Junior.

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He attended the Laguna Dama school, where Spanish speaking Spanish

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was forbidden, and he also had to change his name

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from Cesadio to Cessadi because it was in English Caesar. Yeah.

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And then when his grandmother passed away in nineteen thirty seven,

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the Yuma County government auctioned off her farm and her

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house to pay off some debt that was like some

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tax property that wasn't paid. And it did take a

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while because Librado Senior was trying his best to delay

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all this from happening until like it didn't happen right away,

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but in nineteen thirty nine they had the farm taken

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from them. And this was such a huge impact on

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young Cesadio's life and Caesar, I'm not going to call

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him Socatio anyway, on young sisuch I was his life

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because he felt that it was this huge injustice, and

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I mean it was, and I think anyone who goes

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through something like this, like when we were evicted, right,

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it feels like a huge wrong, right, And and there's

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also like a lot of shame associated with it, of course,

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a lot of feelings. Yeah, and he viewed the Anglo

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Americans as villains in this injustice to his family. It

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wasn't even just like a poor or enriched problem. It

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was like a white versus Mexican problem too. It's how

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he viewed it. And yeah, it was just something that

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also formed just a very like formed his life. I

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guess it was like a life forming experience, is what

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I'm trying to say, right, Yeah, a formative experience. Oh

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my god, thank you. I could not remember those words.

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I remembered it ran before you were going to move on,

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But I was like, I know, this is hard for this. Yeah,

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of course, as I would expect nothing less, you know.

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So around this time he also started to view the

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poor as a source of moral goodness in society. What

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as moral? What moral goodness in society? Okay? Like rich

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people corrupt and poor people? Oh okay, okay, got it?

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Got it? Yeah, I guess I could have worried that differently.

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And this is also when the Chavis family moved to California,

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I became farm workers. They started as a vocado pickers

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in ox Nerd, then picking peas and pescalerro later San Jose.

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A lot of moving, like we we've talked about in

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this episode when we talked about what was her name, Jesse.

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She was part of the now look it up Lopez.

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Oh my god, different as last nights old On. Oh

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my you were You're right, Jesse Lopez and La Cruz. Yeah. So,

210
00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:43.360
like when we talked about in her episode, a lot

211
00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:47.360
of moving because farm labors are chasing the job. With

212
00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.440
the seasons, it changes, so there's a lot of moving

213
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up and down wherever these farms are. And so since

214
00:13:54.759 --> 00:13:57.440
that moved, schools so many times it's hard to count

215
00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:00.240
by a certain age, like twentiesthing schools at least right,

216
00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:04.240
and he excelled in math, but then was average and

217
00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:08.039
other subjects. He also experienced boline from white kids. He

218
00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:15.679
already kind of viewed as like the devil. Yeah, but yeah,

219
00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:19.639
dude to being poor and Mexican. And also he faced

220
00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:23.200
segregation because you know, which we talked about in our

221
00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:27.320
last two episodes. We did, we did, as we said.

222
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Mexicans were also segregated from pools, from eating locations, and schools.

223
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So he experienced that too. And then he after graduating

224
00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.120
middle school in nineteen forty two, he decided to leave

225
00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:44.639
school and then work as a farm labor to help

226
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the family because they needed it. Then in nineteen forty four,

227
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he joined the Navy. I didn't know he was a veteran. Yeah,

228
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a Navy veteran. He joined after his brother tried to join,

229
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but his brother lasted like six months because he punched

230
00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:04.000
an officer. The officer problemly deserved it. Those some people

231
00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:05.720
will say, oh, I was going to join the army,

232
00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:07.480
but I can't take like people yelling at me like

233
00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:09.720
I want to have like punched his brother actually did

234
00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:15.399
it right, right, Yeah, but since I was actually you know,

235
00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:17.559
he did okay in the Navy. He did as he

236
00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:21.639
was told, blah blah blah. He also later changed the

237
00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:24.240
dates that he was in the Army I was or navy.

238
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I was confused because everything I read said nineteen forty four,

239
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and then I was reading this book called The Crusades

240
00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:34.279
of Saysar Travis, and that has the dates nineteen forty

241
00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.399
six to nineteen forty eight that he was in the Navy.

242
00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:39.120
It turns out he changed it so that it would

243
00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:41.960
look like he spent some time in war, and he didn't.

244
00:15:42.039 --> 00:15:44.679
He joined after and he just spent time like guarding,

245
00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:48.200
and then he just told people. He told people it

246
00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:50.279
was forty six, forty four to forty six, but it

247
00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:54.519
was actually nineteen forty six to nineteen forty eight. Interesting. Yeah,

248
00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:56.600
I was very I was confused about that, but yeah,

249
00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:03.840
that's what that's why he later changed the dates. So, yeah,

250
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:07.039
after he got out of the Navy, he talked to

251
00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:10.440
his sister about becoming like a photographer or a cartoonist,

252
00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:14.480
or taking advantage of the educational opportunities awarded to veterans.

253
00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:17.480
But then he couldn't because he hadn't even graduated high

254
00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:22.879
school and so there was no educational resources for him

255
00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:25.440
at that point because he needed to have a high

256
00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:28.200
school degree to use the GI bill, which had a

257
00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:31.279
different name back then. And so but now he was

258
00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.519
twenty one and he returned to Delano where his family was,

259
00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:37.960
and he returned to farm labor because he couldn't do

260
00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:40.879
anything else, basically, or he felt that he couldn't do

261
00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:43.919
anything else, and I mean, yeah, his options were pretty limited.

262
00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:49.919
He joined the National Farm Labor. So he joined the

263
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.320
National Farm Labor in nineteen forty seven. This would be

264
00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:57.639
later involved in the first grape strikes against the did

265
00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:00.279
Georgio grapes. I was gonna say it wrung and so

266
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:03.360
there was Okay, so there was multiple strikes against the Georgia.

267
00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:06.319
The one we know that the United farm Workers would

268
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:09.640
become well known for later has not happened. This is

269
00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:15.640
before that, okay. So these first grape strikes, strikers formed

270
00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:19.200
caravans and marched around the perimeter of the Georgio properties

271
00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:22.119
and then they would ask workers to join them, and

272
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:25.880
Sesta Chavis led one of these caravans. And it was

273
00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:29.839
also around this time that Sisad reunited with Helen Fabella,

274
00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:32.680
who he had been with before leaving for the Navy.

275
00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.960
They were like high school sweethearts, and so they just

276
00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:38.759
came together again. During this time period, she quickly became

277
00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:43.119
pregnant out of wedlock. Oh no, which is a big deal, bapon.

278
00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:46.720
So they quickly got married in Reno, Nevada, and I'm

279
00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:48.799
not sure why because they were not in Nevada at

280
00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:52.319
the time anyway, And it was a double wedding rita,

281
00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.640
Sasa's sister was also getting married to her fiance, and

282
00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:59.200
so it was a double wedding. Fun. We had sounds fun.

283
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.119
And then later in nineteen forty nine, Sasa and Helen

284
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:06.640
settled in San Jose, where she had a lot of

285
00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:09.160
excited family and I think he might have too. I'm

286
00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.039
not sure about that. Don't quote me on that one.

287
00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:13.880
So that's really went. Their first child was born in

288
00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:17.839
February nineteen forty nine. His name was Fernando. Then Sylvia

289
00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:23.079
in nineteen fifty, then Linda in nineteen fifty one. It's

290
00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:25.480
just a year after year, you know, back to back

291
00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.119
to back, back to back. Pregnant happens when there's no

292
00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:33.759
birth control or when they're a Catholic both. Yeah. Yeah.

293
00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:36.720
By nineteen fifty one, they were living in Crescent City,

294
00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:41.200
and Sisar Chavis was working in lumber and then they

295
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:46.160
returned to San Jose where Sasa Chavis returned to farm

296
00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.079
labor briefly before becoming a lumber handler. And during this

297
00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:53.839
time in his life, Sasa Chavis was becoming friends with

298
00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:59.920
Fred Ross and father Donald McDonald, who were both white,

299
00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:04.839
but they were huge activists within the Mexican community. So

300
00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:09.960
Sisar Chavis helped Fred Ross establish the Community Service Organization

301
00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:13.839
in San Jose. And this was an organization that helped

302
00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:19.359
Mexican Americans learn English, file discrimination cases, register them to vote. Voting.

303
00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:21.680
Canvassing was like one of the biggest things they tried

304
00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:25.039
to do crime. I like it. I like it, yeah,

305
00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:29.200
And this was his first huge foreign into community work basically,

306
00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:32.599
so they were going to establish that first San Jose

307
00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:37.880
branch and so eventually Sasa Javis was so hard working

308
00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:40.519
at this he ended up becoming the vice president of

309
00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:44.599
the San Jose Chapter. Wow. He then helped father McDonald

310
00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.000
build the Our Lady of Gualla Lupe Church, the first

311
00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:53.759
church in the sad Sepueist neighborhood of San Jose. Wait.

312
00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:57.480
I like that name. It's kind of like depressing to me,

313
00:19:58.200 --> 00:19:59.680
Like I'll get out of here if you can. That's

314
00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:05.160
what that translates too, Saladsey Wethers. Yeah, I guess you're right.

315
00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:10.079
That's ominous. It is. It is a little scary. But

316
00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:16.039
I like the name Dalkmacy this yeah believe if you

317
00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:18.880
can so. Yeah, that's the name of the neighborhood they

318
00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:21.039
lived in, and he helped built the first church for

319
00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:26.119
salse Bhethers and father. A little bit on Father MacDonald

320
00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:28.640
just because he sounds pretty cool. He was a little

321
00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:33.240
considered a little unorthodox for a Catholic priest. He would

322
00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:36.559
carry a portable altar out onto the fields to hear

323
00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:39.960
a confession because farm workers couldn't leave the fields. I

324
00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:44.279
like that going to the people. Mm hmmm. He would

325
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:47.160
also hold service on Sundays and in the evenings to

326
00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:50.200
accommodate farm workers, something that no one else was doing.

327
00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:54.319
I like that too. Yeah, he was there for the people.

328
00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:57.359
And I mean, I think we know, but the Catholic

329
00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.759
Church does have some history of like citing with the

330
00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:03.799
race and wealthy, and so in some places not always

331
00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:07.079
you know, as we've also said. So in this case,

332
00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:11.400
father McDonald was frowned upon by his like corners cover

333
00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:13.880
ups for the kind of things he was doing. He

334
00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:16.799
even held he was the only one at the time

335
00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:21.680
holding mass in Spanish, which he learned as a child.

336
00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:25.319
Because he was talking. He made friends with the only

337
00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:27.759
Spanish speaking kid in his class and learned Spanish from

338
00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:34.920
that kid. Wow, actually, I love him right right. And

339
00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:38.680
for his help, Father McDonald then Sessa Chavis some books,

340
00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:42.960
and these books developed Sessa Chavis's love for reading. The

341
00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:47.240
books included biographies of Saint Francis of Asci for those

342
00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:49.759
who don't know, this was an Italian Catholic friar who

343
00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:53.359
founded the Order of the Franciscans. And he also like

344
00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:56.440
led a life of poverty, and he was a preacher

345
00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:04.079
who received Stickmata and son Angel. Okay, yeah, it seems

346
00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:08.279
a little efe to me. But he also read the

347
00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:12.920
biographies of John H. Lewis and Eugene V. Debs, both

348
00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:18.640
US labor organizers and like the East Coast sort of

349
00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:22.319
like for like my co workers, things like that. And

350
00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:28.160
he also read the biography of Mahatma Gandhi. We know

351
00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:34.119
now is a little more problematic than we first learned about. Yeah,

352
00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:37.359
but you know, still regarded as one of the most

353
00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:43.480
prolific peaceful activists in the history of the world. Yeah,

354
00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:45.759
these are the kind of books that he borrowed from

355
00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:47.880
father McDonald and the kind of books that kind of

356
00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:55.119
shaped the activists as the SASA Chavis was becoming especially

357
00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:59.440
Gandhi around the time, says that was laid off from

358
00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:02.880
the Jedeneral Box Company where he was a lumber handler.

359
00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:06.119
This was night we're in nineteen fifty three now, But

360
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:10.319
Fred Ross was able to hire Sasad officially onto the

361
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:17.160
CSO as an organizer. And it was a small, small wage,

362
00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:20.599
it wasn't a lot. So Sasa I traveled around California

363
00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:24.559
setting up other chapters of the Community Service Organization. And

364
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:29.400
he basically just went up and down California to Salina, Spresno, Browni,

365
00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:33.680
Sam Bernardino, Madera, Bakersfield, just like literally up and down

366
00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:35.960
trying to set these chapters up. But the problem was

367
00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:38.400
that whenever they left, the chapters would fall apart. So

368
00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:43.000
then he wanted to go back to rebuild a lot

369
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.599
of traveling, and like he was becoming known for his

370
00:23:46.759 --> 00:23:49.759
like quick last minute grand gestures to try and like

371
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:53.440
fundraise money or like anything for like the cause. And

372
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:57.519
this is literally what he would be known for as

373
00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:00.759
an activist like his later So, there was one time

374
00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:05.279
that they were trying to rebuild the CSO or something

375
00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:08.160
in Brawley, California, and they were in need of funds

376
00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:12.039
and in three days A. Sachavis organized a carnival to

377
00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:15.839
raise money. And he also was going to set up

378
00:24:15.880 --> 00:24:18.279
like a Christmas tree farm to sell trees. And he

379
00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:21.680
found a vendor. When this original tree supply was no

380
00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:25.000
longer available, he traveled hours away found new trees. When

381
00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:27.319
he didn't have a way to transport these trees back,

382
00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:30.000
he waited on the side of the road and convinced

383
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:33.519
someone to help him move the trees, like he found

384
00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:35.319
waited for someone with the truck and then just like

385
00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:40.039
convince them to travel back with these trees. That's amazing though,

386
00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.319
I mean, yeah, it's like you said. This is not

387
00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:45.279
to dismiss any of the work that he did, Like

388
00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:50.240
it takes a lot of skill and I don't know,

389
00:24:50.599 --> 00:24:54.440
like leadership and a real commitment to community to be

390
00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:57.920
able to do those things exactly. And he would do

391
00:24:57.960 --> 00:25:02.039
these things often having to to eat up the costs himself.

392
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:04.880
Like with these trees, they weren't able to sell all

393
00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:06.839
of them. By the time he got back, it was like,

394
00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:09.759
so you know, this just it put him on the

395
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:12.640
map as someone who went the extra extra extra mile

396
00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:16.000
from whatever he was doing. Now we're in early I'm

397
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:18.039
skipping years and stuff, but just you know, want to

398
00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:21.519
get like a full picture. So now we're in early

399
00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:25.400
nineteen fifty seven and SISI Chavis was becoming disillusioned with

400
00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.680
the Cso his family had to upbrow everything and move

401
00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:31.559
with him. Every time he went and sat up a

402
00:25:31.559 --> 00:25:34.920
new chapter. That's a lot of movie. That's a lot yeah. Yeah.

403
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:38.039
And on top of that, he barely saw his family

404
00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:41.079
because of all the traveling. He wasn't even there when

405
00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:45.680
his sixth child was born. He was at the national

406
00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:49.920
CSO convention. Oh yeah. His brother had to drive Helen

407
00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:53.519
to the hospital, and Helen was holding down everything at

408
00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:56.880
home while he wasn't working. I feel for her. Yeah,

409
00:25:57.000 --> 00:25:59.759
that's rough. Since Chavis started to believe that the middle

410
00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:05.200
class members of the CEO CSO CSO we're pushing their

411
00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:09.599
priorities onto the organization, and then that was becoming inaccessible

412
00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:13.720
to lower income people. And then when the organization tried

413
00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:16.319
to hold their natural convention at this place called the

414
00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:20.720
SNA Hotel. He threw a fit, cemented his belief that

415
00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:23.200
the poor members could not attend this fancy hotel and

416
00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:27.000
the convention and like the prices, I mean yeah, yeah.

417
00:26:27.799 --> 00:26:31.440
So people were starting to not agree with him for this,

418
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:35.680
and this also put him on the FBI watch list.

419
00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:38.039
They opened the file on him because it was they

420
00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:40.920
were starting to see this with as like communist viewpoints.

421
00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:45.359
I was gonna say, well, anything that is anti capitalist

422
00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:49.079
is communists. When you start being concerned for the poor,

423
00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:52.559
exactly when you start caring about the poor, you start

424
00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:57.319
talking about wealth disparities, you know, that'll get you on

425
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:05.519
the list. Yeah. So then he ended up moving to

426
00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:10.039
ox nerd because the United Packing Workers of America paid

427
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:13.559
the CSO twenty thousand to open a branch there, so

428
00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:15.519
there was enough money for him to go be the

429
00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:19.160
organizer of all this set up this branch, mostly working

430
00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:22.359
with Mexican farm workers there, and you know, he was

431
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.480
the first to really hear their concerns about them being

432
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:32.720
fired or passed over for work for illegal workers or brasseros.

433
00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:38.519
This is where the hate starts. Yes, So he established

434
00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:42.839
the CSO Employment Committee to keep track of the legal

435
00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:45.880
unemployed farm workers who wanted to work but could not

436
00:27:46.279 --> 00:27:52.720
because of the illegal workers, and the CSO committee started

437
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:56.480
to criticize the director of the Ventuda County Farm Labor

438
00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.960
Organization because he was the they were the ones giving

439
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:04.960
more jobs to brasseros than Americans, and this really kind

440
00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:09.440
of other the groups, the two groups, right, But at

441
00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:11.759
the end of the day, like to me, it's not

442
00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:15.599
the fault of the Braseros's the fault of the people

443
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:19.079
hiring them for cheaper. They're being exploited. To be mad

444
00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:24.200
at the corporations and the people in power who are

445
00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:31.599
choosing to exploit others like labor, yeah, exactly, But they

446
00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:34.400
didn't view it this way. They started doing sit ins

447
00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:37.880
and things like that, and they eventually did get companies

448
00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:42.960
to replace brassetos with unemployed americ quote unquote Americans, but

449
00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:48.559
like really Mexican Americans, the legalized, like legal status Mexicans. Right. Yeah.

450
00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:53.440
So the eventually the Employment Committee moved from the CSO

451
00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:56.000
to the Wow why don't it writing I wrote w

452
00:28:56.200 --> 00:28:58.359
P or up w A, but I don't know what

453
00:28:58.359 --> 00:29:03.039
it sotunds for no different organization. And then the Chavist

454
00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.119
family moved to La where he would become the director

455
00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:10.920
of the CSO. And it's a big position, So saysa

456
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:14.000
Helen and their eight kids moved to Boyle Heights, a

457
00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:19.200
historic Mexican neighborhood. But then says I learned that this

458
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:22.119
wasn't as good as it had seemed in the first place,

459
00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:26.519
because the CSO was in deep financial trouble, to the

460
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:28.680
point where they might not even be able to pay

461
00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:33.759
his salary. Wow. But him being Sasa Javist pretty much

462
00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:37.880
saved the CSO. He was able to secure financing from

463
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:42.359
wealthy donors, and he, I don't know, accomplished a bunch

464
00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:45.559
as the director in that time. I'm not going to

465
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:48.200
get into everything, because again, we would be here all day.

466
00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:50.839
Kind of already here all day. I'm just kidding. So

467
00:29:52.039 --> 00:29:56.880
he resigned as director in nineteen sixty two, and so

468
00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:01.720
the Chavist family left Boyle Heights, and I mean in

469
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:04.799
bo Heights they were pretty good, middle class living basically,

470
00:30:05.960 --> 00:30:09.079
and they left all this to go to Delano, not

471
00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:12.960
to in English at Delano Deleno. Oh, thank you, I've

472
00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:15.400
been saying it wrong. I can't believe it took this

473
00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:18.640
long to correct. I meant to say something sooner than

474
00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:20.279
I forgot. But you know, it's just one of those

475
00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:24.039
things like I'm never gonna say Vallejo because I forget,

476
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:31.160
so I will say I've been saying, Okay, wow, thanks

477
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.720
a lot. I'm just kidding. You probably forget and start

478
00:30:34.759 --> 00:30:41.359
seeing Delano anyway. So yeah, they picked up and everything

479
00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:45.680
and moved to Delano. Before arriving there, they stopped at

480
00:30:45.720 --> 00:30:47.839
the beach for one day, and this was just such

481
00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:52.279
I was his first vacation like ever, so the first

482
00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:54.400
time you just spent the beach with his spent the

483
00:30:54.440 --> 00:31:00.920
beach with his kids. I mean that. That's rough. Yeah,

484
00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:05.880
and such a common thing to common. Yeah, Latin know

485
00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:11.640
that thing. Then a childhood thing sometimes poor poor kid, childhood,

486
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:16.240
all of the above. When they got to Delano, they

487
00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:22.039
had no jobs and two hundred dollars in savings. Sasad

488
00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:26.680
wanted to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming, or not becoming,

489
00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:30.960
a forming a labor union for farm workers, though he

490
00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:33.279
had said the reason for moving there was to conduct

491
00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:38.000
a census to determine the needs for farm workers, but

492
00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:43.039
really it was to form or plan the union that

493
00:31:43.079 --> 00:31:46.960
would become the United farm Workers, which was first called

494
00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:50.640
Farm Workers Association. Later National was added on to National

495
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:54.319
farm Workers Association and then finally United farm Workers Association.

496
00:31:54.880 --> 00:31:57.920
So that's that was his whole goal for moving there,

497
00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:01.400
though he didn't say that right away, and he also

498
00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:04.599
insistem of calling it a movement instead of a union,

499
00:32:05.400 --> 00:32:09.119
which honestly a little culty to me. But okay, I

500
00:32:09.319 --> 00:32:14.680
don't know, I don't know about all that. And during

501
00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:17.599
this time he had an immense amount of help from

502
00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:20.680
his wife, Helen Chatvis, Like none of this wouldn't be

503
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:23.640
possible if it wasn't for her. Oh no, I mean

504
00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:27.359
she's holding down the house. If it wasn't for her,

505
00:32:27.640 --> 00:32:30.400
he wouldn't even be able to do this, like, you know.

506
00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:32.960
On top of that, she also did extra work for

507
00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:35.960
you know, the union. Oh my god, how does she

508
00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:39.000
have time for all this? That's what I'm wondering. He

509
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:42.119
was doing this on the back of his wife, just

510
00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:47.359
like all men go on. Yeah. He also around this

511
00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:50.759
time is when he started getting help from Dolores Wuerta

512
00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:55.519
would become a lifelong ally And of course there was

513
00:32:55.519 --> 00:32:58.279
a lot of people who had a lot of a

514
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:02.359
big role informing this association that would be later forgotten

515
00:33:02.359 --> 00:33:05.839
to history. Like we have already had talked about Jesse

516
00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:10.680
Lopez l Gilbert by the yeah, is another person who

517
00:33:10.759 --> 00:33:14.039
would have such an important role in the whole union.

518
00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:15.759
But you know, at the end of the day, the

519
00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:18.519
name of here is since Travis. And then like maybe

520
00:33:18.519 --> 00:33:23.440
sometimes the is what yeah, but certainly not as much

521
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:25.920
as him. And then also like Helen, Like Helen had

522
00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:29.359
such a huge hand in all this, and like she

523
00:33:29.640 --> 00:33:32.640
is like just this forgotten person, which is insane to

524
00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:36.200
me but also not surprising. Yeah. So I mean she

525
00:33:36.359 --> 00:33:40.119
was like either at his side and anything involved in

526
00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:44.079
the union, or sometimes like a step ahead offering ideas.

527
00:33:44.200 --> 00:33:51.920
And it's like he gets the credit. I'm telling you, Yeah, man, Yeah,

528
00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:57.279
Sisad would trouble around the San Joaquin Valley meeting workers

529
00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:00.759
trying to get them to join. He during time, was

530
00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:06.079
living off of unemployment and Helen's wage as a farm

531
00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:10.119
laborer and donations from friends and family. They also moved

532
00:34:10.159 --> 00:34:11.639
to this area where they both had a lot of

533
00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:14.079
extended family, which was also a lot of help. But

534
00:34:14.199 --> 00:34:18.519
even then, Helen worked ten hour days, earning a dollar

535
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:22.599
an hour. She woke up before dawn, made breakfast and

536
00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:26.239
lunches for the kids, left for work, came back to clean, cook,

537
00:34:26.599 --> 00:34:29.440
do all the laundry, care for the eight children at

538
00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:34.239
this point, ages three to thirteen, by herself. Oh my god,

539
00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:38.440
I'm I'm just tired listening to that. Oh dude, Okay.

540
00:34:38.440 --> 00:34:42.559
The other day I was mad at my husband because

541
00:34:42.599 --> 00:34:45.079
he kept signing up for overtime, which meant that I

542
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:48.800
need to do dinner. And I was like, I can't

543
00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:51.760
keep leaving like this, I can't keep living like this.

544
00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:57.079
Why are you doing this? Yeah, I'm not ashamed about it.

545
00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:01.960
I could never be this women, no me, and I

546
00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:05.119
am proud I say that I would literally die like

547
00:35:05.159 --> 00:35:10.360
I would. So, okay, let's move on because I would.

548
00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:19.519
Let's move on. Let's move on. So when the money

549
00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:22.199
was super super lower, on the verge of running out,

550
00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:26.800
this is finally when Sasid worked the fields too. Oh oh,

551
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:29.400
it took that long. It took that out. Yeah, it

552
00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:34.239
took that almost having Uh. The first winter back in

553
00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:38.199
Delano was the most difficult. The unemployment money was running out,

554
00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:41.280
the bills were piling up, they were surviving on powdered

555
00:35:41.320 --> 00:35:45.239
eggs and beans. The kids started showing signs of malnutrition.

556
00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:49.679
Oh no, but Saside was convinced on his union and

557
00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:51.480
that they would have enough members for him to take

558
00:35:51.480 --> 00:35:56.159
a small salary, and that that this work was more important.

559
00:35:56.280 --> 00:36:01.199
Dare I say it than feeding his family? And like, no, know,

560
00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:03.639
we know what he would go on to do, and

561
00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:05.639
we know that it was important work. I mean it

562
00:36:05.679 --> 00:36:08.559
was important. It was yeah, we know that. But it's

563
00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:12.679
like I would what was the cost? You know? And

564
00:36:13.079 --> 00:36:15.079
his kids you know today they're not going to say

565
00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:17.480
that either, But this was the truth. This is what

566
00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:22.480
they were going through, Like it's just damn, it's it's rough.

567
00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:24.679
It's rough. Yeah, yeah, And then nothing else to say

568
00:36:24.679 --> 00:36:29.039
other than it's rough. Finally, on September thirtieth, nineteen sixty two,

569
00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:33.440
the farm Worker Association was formalized. Their first order of

570
00:36:33.480 --> 00:36:37.639
business was to get life insurance policy for the members

571
00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:40.039
and then that the members would begin to pay three

572
00:36:40.199 --> 00:36:44.760
fifty a month that was their union dues. They decided

573
00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:48.159
to adopt the motto Viva la Causa or long Live

574
00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:53.360
the Cause, and Saysad was elected president and Dolor Esuerta,

575
00:36:53.679 --> 00:36:59.159
Julio Ornandez, and Gilbert Badiya were vice presidents. During this meeting,

576
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:03.039
the official flag of the organization was revealed, and sin

577
00:37:03.079 --> 00:37:05.800
Seth had been working on the design for months. He

578
00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:11.119
studied marketing in grocery stores, billboards, cigarette packings. He looked

579
00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:14.920
at color combos, like what goes together? He studied what

580
00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:23.159
worked visually, including the Nazi colors. Wow, well, I mean

581
00:37:23.239 --> 00:37:27.880
ultimately that's what he went with, right, Yeah, I guess

582
00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:32.679
the colors work. Yeah, red and black and white and

583
00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:36.800
why they just go together? Right? Forget the Nazi thing,

584
00:37:36.840 --> 00:37:39.400
and this is like the Atlas colors. I was gonna say,

585
00:37:39.400 --> 00:37:41.039
I would have gotten my I said, I would have

586
00:37:41.079 --> 00:37:43.320
gone with my and spoken from the soccer team from

587
00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:47.880
Guadala Halis called Nachiba's Atlas. That's what I would have said. Yeah,

588
00:37:47.920 --> 00:37:51.079
if I was Sasa Travis. But now everyone knows who

589
00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:57.360
Alas is. That's true, everyone knows who the Nazis are. Yeah,

590
00:37:57.440 --> 00:38:02.119
but look at him, look at him learning marketing. Yeah,

591
00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:06.239
I mean there's no denying his like engine ingenuity. Is

592
00:38:06.239 --> 00:38:09.840
that the word I'm looking for? Like his yeah, like

593
00:38:10.119 --> 00:38:16.480
on Genoa Yeah yeah, yeah, but yeah, I mean Nazi colors.

594
00:38:16.519 --> 00:38:19.719
He did flat out say that he's like studying why

595
00:38:19.960 --> 00:38:23.159
Hitler chose the swastika. Oh my god, even say that, right,

596
00:38:23.159 --> 00:38:26.679
the swastika. Don't ask me, I was saying swastika. That

597
00:38:26.679 --> 00:38:30.079
sounds right. No, he even in this month, not in

598
00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:32.559
this month, don't ask me what. Yeah, don't know me nothing.

599
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:38.960
So he Yeah, he was studying why Hitler chose the

600
00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:42.000
symbol the swastika and the Nazi flag colors, and this

601
00:38:42.119 --> 00:38:45.599
led him to choose black, red, and white for the

602
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:49.639
unitiform worker's flag. The idea of the eagle came from

603
00:38:49.880 --> 00:38:52.280
the Blue Eagle of the New Deal, so, you know,

604
00:38:52.559 --> 00:39:01.679
not entirely not inspired, which I like, Oh, I just

605
00:39:01.679 --> 00:39:03.679
didn't know that and I had to include it. No,

606
00:39:03.880 --> 00:39:07.039
I mean, there's so much I didn't know about this man. Yeah,

607
00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:09.719
and yeah, and this is why we're spliting this into parts.

608
00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:11.920
But I'm saying two parts, so we don't know. Maybe

609
00:39:11.920 --> 00:39:15.199
it'll become more. I'm halfway through the book right now

610
00:39:15.280 --> 00:39:17.840
and that's my main source and I'm just learning so much.

611
00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:19.760
I'm absorbing it and I'm like writing and I'm like,

612
00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:23.079
maybe it'll be more parts. I don't know yet. So anyway,

613
00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:27.039
not entirely not the inspired. Yes, also inspired from the

614
00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:31.480
New Deal, because this blue eagle from the Blue Deal,

615
00:39:32.079 --> 00:39:34.519
the Blue Deal. Sorry, too many words are very similar.

616
00:39:34.840 --> 00:39:38.199
This blue egle from the New Deal was used to

617
00:39:38.599 --> 00:39:42.280
signifying compliance with the standards of the National Recovery Administration.

618
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:44.719
I don't know. It sounds boring, right, I mean, but

619
00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:48.239
it was. It was an image thing the New Deal. Yeah,

620
00:39:48.360 --> 00:39:53.239
and look up New Deal and what's his name, FDR? FDR,

621
00:39:53.480 --> 00:40:01.079
Yeah for more info. But eagles patriotic, Yeah, bald, powerful, Yeah,

622
00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:04.559
it's just say bald. They are bald. And yeah, I

623
00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:08.800
just didn't I did say that, Okay. Anyway, moving on,

624
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:13.039
says that his brother, it might have been his cousin.

625
00:40:13.079 --> 00:40:16.519
I remember Richard Chavis's name. I don't know. I mean,

626
00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:20.519
he ver eight siblings total, so yeah, so maybe it was.

627
00:40:20.599 --> 00:40:25.320
It might have been a brother. He drew the eagle

628
00:40:25.559 --> 00:40:28.000
with squared off wings and feet so that it was

629
00:40:28.039 --> 00:40:31.400
simple enough that anyone could draw the symbol. This was

630
00:40:31.440 --> 00:40:34.519
intentional the way the eagle looks, and yeah, it's very square,

631
00:40:34.679 --> 00:40:36.840
it's and it is probably anyway. I can't draw it,

632
00:40:36.880 --> 00:40:41.719
but anyone else could probably draw it. So they revealed.

633
00:40:41.880 --> 00:40:45.480
They revealed the flag at this meeting and immediately gasps

634
00:40:45.559 --> 00:40:48.760
and clap clapping from the crowd, and then someone asks

635
00:40:48.880 --> 00:40:52.159
what did it mean? And they had no answers. It

636
00:40:52.199 --> 00:40:55.119
didn't mean anything to them. Efforts and on the spot

637
00:40:55.519 --> 00:40:59.639
one of his brothers just what an improvisation. He said,

638
00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:03.199
the black ones for the workers aspiration, white for hope,

639
00:41:03.480 --> 00:41:06.400
and red for their sacrifice. Wow, I mean to be

640
00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:09.400
able to think of that on the spot, I mean amazing, Right,

641
00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:18.239
that's I'm really I'm only apping up the lingo from

642
00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:23.440
my Latina mind, the blood in my Latina veins. I

643
00:41:23.559 --> 00:41:27.480
must spit out my water. Okay. So so yeah, that's

644
00:41:28.559 --> 00:41:30.199
that's what they said the flag men, and they made

645
00:41:30.199 --> 00:41:33.760
it up on the spot. Really, it's because he liked

646
00:41:33.760 --> 00:41:38.719
the colors because the Nazis used them, right, I mean

647
00:41:38.719 --> 00:41:44.440
that wasn't like the full reason. But yeah. So, as

648
00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:48.960
I mentioned earlier, Doloresuerta would become one of Cesar Javis's

649
00:41:48.960 --> 00:41:52.679
earliest and most loyal supporters, probably only second to his

650
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:56.320
wife Helen. They knew each other from their days in

651
00:41:56.400 --> 00:42:00.079
the CSO, where they had both be were members of

652
00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:02.760
they both worked for the CSO. I'm not going to

653
00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:05.320
get too much into her because this would be insanely long.

654
00:42:05.519 --> 00:42:08.760
Again it already kind of is. But in many ways

655
00:42:08.840 --> 00:42:13.440
she was just like him completely and utterly dedicated to

656
00:42:13.480 --> 00:42:19.079
the cause, much to the detriment of her own personal relationships.

657
00:42:20.199 --> 00:42:27.159
Children included the cause Lausa. It came first for both

658
00:42:27.199 --> 00:42:32.360
of them. She was a dedicated worker, beyond dedicated dedicated.

659
00:42:32.519 --> 00:42:35.960
If dedicated was like Sasir Chavis and Dorrosberta would be

660
00:42:36.039 --> 00:42:40.719
under the word dedicated. That's like they signified hers. I

661
00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:44.880
don't know what I'm saying anyway. She was also very outspoken,

662
00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:47.599
which is something not a lot of men were used to.

663
00:42:47.880 --> 00:42:50.119
She would like, if she didn't agree, she would say it.

664
00:42:50.199 --> 00:42:53.559
If she had a different thought, she would just say it.

665
00:42:53.559 --> 00:42:55.960
She would also center for herself, and this is not

666
00:42:56.039 --> 00:42:58.880
something a lot of Mexican men are used to. And

667
00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:02.880
that was including sad and Like. He usually would address

668
00:43:03.599 --> 00:43:06.119
his issues with her in private, but like there were

669
00:43:06.119 --> 00:43:08.639
occasions where he burst down anger at her in public.

670
00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:11.800
Damn there was a meeting he yelled at her, I

671
00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:13.760
don't give a down what you think or anyone thinks.

672
00:43:13.800 --> 00:43:15.199
I'm going to run it the way I want to

673
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:18.400
run it. And you don't like that too bad, get out.

674
00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:21.000
If you want to argue, get out. If you don't

675
00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:23.079
want to take orders for me, get out. I've had

676
00:43:23.119 --> 00:43:27.280
it damn. So yeah, he was known for his like

677
00:43:28.440 --> 00:43:34.280
occasional violent reactions to things, and you know, like on

678
00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:36.039
and on. I'm not going to get into the history

679
00:43:36.679 --> 00:43:40.280
completely of the farm Worker Association, and like what follows

680
00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:44.920
this is their building the union phase here that they're in.

681
00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:50.960
And so finally in nineteen sixty five, the NFWA more

682
00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:54.320
than double their income and was much more secure, and

683
00:43:54.360 --> 00:44:00.920
they began planning their first strike. So rose grafters approached them.

684
00:44:01.119 --> 00:44:03.679
And for those that don't know, the rose grafting is

685
00:44:03.679 --> 00:44:07.519
the process of propagation where a piece of one rose

686
00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:11.599
fuses is fused onto another one. This is to pass

687
00:44:11.760 --> 00:44:15.480
better rose qualities onto another rose. Oh, I was like

688
00:44:15.559 --> 00:44:18.280
to what I end to what any wants a purpose?

689
00:44:19.480 --> 00:44:24.519
What was that reason? And these are highly skilled workers,

690
00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:28.960
They're very difficult to replace. So forty rose crafters asked

691
00:44:29.119 --> 00:44:32.719
for the farm Workers Association to help them strike for

692
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:36.400
better conditions, and they agreed, and so this was kind

693
00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:40.280
of their first strike, although it wasn't held by them,

694
00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:44.239
they were helping the rose grafters. So the strike targeted

695
00:44:44.360 --> 00:44:49.159
the companies Mount Arbor and Conklin. The strike started or

696
00:44:49.199 --> 00:44:52.320
began on May third, nineteen sixty five and four days later,

697
00:44:52.440 --> 00:44:55.800
the companies agreed to raise wages. On day three of

698
00:44:55.880 --> 00:45:02.519
the strike, one worker almost broke the strike and bloged

699
00:45:02.519 --> 00:45:05.719
like she saw this worker's lights on very early in

700
00:45:05.760 --> 00:45:08.159
the house and she's like, oh no, he's trying to

701
00:45:08.159 --> 00:45:10.800
go to work, and she blocked this driveway with her car.

702
00:45:13.719 --> 00:45:18.199
It takes yeah, seriously, and this just shows like the

703
00:45:18.199 --> 00:45:24.400
dedication of both the union and don't notice what that

704
00:45:24.480 --> 00:45:29.000
like she physically blocked his car. But yeah, the strike worked,

705
00:45:29.079 --> 00:45:33.239
although it ended earlier than the United farm Workers wanted,

706
00:45:33.400 --> 00:45:35.719
because they would have wanted a contract to come out

707
00:45:35.719 --> 00:45:39.159
of this, not just wages, like wages and a contract

708
00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:42.599
was their goal. But the rosecrafters agreed to the wage

709
00:45:42.639 --> 00:45:46.480
trace without a contract, and that's something Sasa Chravis was

710
00:45:46.559 --> 00:45:48.960
not a fan of, right, I mean, that makes sense

711
00:45:49.079 --> 00:45:52.559
to not be a fan of that, right. And this

712
00:45:52.719 --> 00:45:57.320
strike made, says Chravis, and the farm workers grow in

713
00:45:57.519 --> 00:46:00.719
popularity and the reputation as well because it was a

714
00:46:00.760 --> 00:46:04.960
successful strike. They also led a successful rent strike in

715
00:46:05.079 --> 00:46:07.760
the and how do you say this in English? To

716
00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:12.880
later to layer Tilarry, to Larry, thank you. They led

717
00:46:12.920 --> 00:46:15.320
a successful rent strike in to Larry Farm in the

718
00:46:15.400 --> 00:46:18.599
Tillarry Farm labor camp. Families were forced to live in

719
00:46:18.679 --> 00:46:22.320
one room. It was eleven by sixteen feet, and they

720
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:25.159
were ten shacks and there was no indoor plumbing, and

721
00:46:25.199 --> 00:46:28.519
the shacks had holes in the walls, and so they

722
00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:33.039
wanted better living conditions. They wanted cheaper rents because we're

723
00:46:33.159 --> 00:46:38.440
also it was expensive even though it was bad, like

724
00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:42.880
a bad living space. So that was their second successful strike,

725
00:46:44.239 --> 00:46:49.559
still not their own, still helping another organization. And you know,

726
00:46:49.679 --> 00:46:52.599
as many maybe by now in this episode this far

727
00:46:52.679 --> 00:46:54.440
you can tell, you might be able to tell. But

728
00:46:54.599 --> 00:46:56.519
if not, you know, so such as he liked to

729
00:46:56.559 --> 00:47:00.400
be the one in control of all things, especially the union,

730
00:47:00.760 --> 00:47:06.079
but like sometimes it just wasn't possible. Right, So in

731
00:47:06.159 --> 00:47:09.079
May nineteen sixty five, there was another union in the

732
00:47:09.079 --> 00:47:13.800
Coachella Valley. This was great season. The Brasselo program had

733
00:47:14.039 --> 00:47:17.760
come to an end, which is what the farm workers

734
00:47:17.800 --> 00:47:21.400
that were quote unquote legal, what they wanted, right. But growers,

735
00:47:21.599 --> 00:47:26.639
the farm owners, they were begging the government for another

736
00:47:26.840 --> 00:47:30.239
type of program to bring in temporary guest workers because

737
00:47:30.239 --> 00:47:34.719
they could pay them less. And so the government agreed

738
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:40.159
and they had found guest workers. The wage was set

739
00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:43.440
for one forty an hour. And this other union, the

740
00:47:43.519 --> 00:47:49.559
a WALK Agriculture Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, was made up

741
00:47:49.599 --> 00:47:53.639
of Filipino farm laborers. So the Filipino members of the

742
00:47:53.679 --> 00:47:56.320
a WALK were demanding that same wage, the one forty

743
00:47:56.360 --> 00:47:59.719
an hour that the temporary guest workers were being offered,

744
00:48:00.360 --> 00:48:06.880
and the growers, the farm owners, they denied this, giving

745
00:48:06.920 --> 00:48:10.159
them the same wage. So the Filipino members of eight

746
00:48:10.199 --> 00:48:18.199
WALK decided to strike. And so word of this, you know,

747
00:48:18.280 --> 00:48:23.039
started spreading to grape season in Delano in September nineteen

748
00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:29.679
sixty five, and the members of the IWANTA had worked

749
00:48:30.079 --> 00:48:35.039
the season you know, up in the Coachella Valley. They

750
00:48:35.039 --> 00:48:38.079
were expecting that same one forty wage. When they got

751
00:48:38.079 --> 00:48:42.360
to Delano in September, growers there were not they were

752
00:48:42.360 --> 00:48:44.119
not paying this. They were just paying what they wanted,

753
00:48:44.159 --> 00:48:46.519
which was usually one twenty five an hour. But these

754
00:48:46.519 --> 00:48:49.719
other workers had already been they had already been living

755
00:48:49.760 --> 00:48:52.960
that one forty wage life right an hour, one forty

756
00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:57.159
hour wage, which is I mean pay them more, pay

757
00:48:57.159 --> 00:49:00.360
the more always, you know. Yeah, And so on the

758
00:49:00.400 --> 00:49:04.360
morning of September eighth, nineteen sixty five, the Filipino workers

759
00:49:04.559 --> 00:49:08.880
refused to leave their camps at the Deleno vineyards, and

760
00:49:09.039 --> 00:49:11.519
they refused. They refused to work, they didn't go into

761
00:49:11.519 --> 00:49:13.840
the fields, they did not leave their camps. Word of

762
00:49:13.920 --> 00:49:18.280
this spread and soon members of the farm Workers Association,

763
00:49:18.599 --> 00:49:22.559
says Sar Chavis's union, were asking, well, when are we

764
00:49:22.679 --> 00:49:26.199
going to strike because the other members were striking. Either

765
00:49:26.360 --> 00:49:32.440
it was become scabs and break the Filipinos strike and work,

766
00:49:32.960 --> 00:49:36.039
or also strike, and says the Chavis didn't think they

767
00:49:36.079 --> 00:49:39.360
were ready for a strike. He was not, like, if

768
00:49:39.360 --> 00:49:41.119
it was up to him, this wouldn't have happened at

769
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:44.440
this point in time at all. So then Larry and

770
00:49:44.480 --> 00:49:47.960
I can't say his last name, Italyon. He was the

771
00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:51.719
head of the De Leno a walk the Filipino farm workers.

772
00:49:52.079 --> 00:49:55.360
He went to Cesar Chavis because if the Mexicans broke

773
00:49:55.480 --> 00:49:59.760
their strike, the Filipino union would not survive. He needed

774
00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:04.639
uniform workers to join their strike, and Sinsar Chavis, very

775
00:50:04.719 --> 00:50:07.920
unhappy that he was forced into action, called the meeting

776
00:50:08.280 --> 00:50:11.840
on a September sixteenth, nineteen sixty five, to yell and

777
00:50:11.840 --> 00:50:18.280
everyone no, no, right, no, no, surprisingly no. He chose

778
00:50:18.320 --> 00:50:21.039
Stember sixteenth because, as you and I both know, this

779
00:50:21.199 --> 00:50:24.880
happens to also be an important day of Mexico's independence day,

780
00:50:25.119 --> 00:50:27.000
so that's why he called the meeting on that day.

781
00:50:27.960 --> 00:50:30.800
Sas Ar Chavis made sure to mention the symbolism of

782
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:34.800
this day. He compared their struggles to the struggles of

783
00:50:34.920 --> 00:50:40.880
the Mexican independence from Spain. And the fifth item of

784
00:50:40.920 --> 00:50:44.960
the meeting was a vote. Would the workers of the

785
00:50:45.159 --> 00:50:48.039
United form Workers Association vote to strike? And of course

786
00:50:48.079 --> 00:50:52.159
they did, and so you know, they were shouting Viva Nostra,

787
00:50:53.559 --> 00:50:58.199
Viva Lauelga, Viva Sar Chavez, and the strike was on.

788
00:50:58.679 --> 00:51:02.360
They joined the Filipino farm workers. Honestly, I want to

789
00:51:02.360 --> 00:51:04.519
hear it. Yeah, this and this is the stuff that

790
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:07.800
I think we already know a little more when you

791
00:51:07.840 --> 00:51:15.400
hear the yeah, the story of Sister Tavis. So on

792
00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:18.599
the morning of September twenty two, hundred strikers gathered in

793
00:51:18.639 --> 00:51:22.800
front of the farm Workers Association the offices. They were

794
00:51:22.840 --> 00:51:26.159
each handed coffee and a round sign with the word welga,

795
00:51:26.440 --> 00:51:29.840
and their first jobs or assignments were to find workers

796
00:51:29.880 --> 00:51:31.880
as they headed into the fields and get them to

797
00:51:31.960 --> 00:51:35.320
join the strike. Then they shifted to the roads along

798
00:51:35.360 --> 00:51:39.840
the fields and Mexican and Filipino workers walk the picket

799
00:51:39.840 --> 00:51:43.800
lines together, because I think another thing that happens often

800
00:51:43.840 --> 00:51:47.199
when we talk about this movement is that the Filipino

801
00:51:47.280 --> 00:51:50.719
farmworkers are erased from the story. The logistics of the

802
00:51:50.760 --> 00:51:54.519
strike alone were insane and danting. Like, honestly, how they

803
00:51:54.519 --> 00:51:56.519
even did this is insane to me, because it's a

804
00:51:56.559 --> 00:51:58.760
lot of ground to cover. This is a big, big

805
00:51:59.440 --> 00:52:04.599
farm at every picket line. The workers were or the workers,

806
00:52:04.599 --> 00:52:06.960
the growers, the farm owners. They were there trying to

807
00:52:07.039 --> 00:52:11.599
undermine the strikers. They blasted music to try and drown

808
00:52:11.679 --> 00:52:15.159
out the chanteing. They would drive their trucks to create

809
00:52:15.280 --> 00:52:18.920
dust clouds so that the strikers couldn't breathe. They sprayed

810
00:52:18.960 --> 00:52:22.519
them with sulfur. What kind of shit is this? Yeah?

811
00:52:22.679 --> 00:52:26.559
What the fuck? Yeah? Okay, so they would drive their

812
00:52:26.559 --> 00:52:30.880
trucks close enough to nip the heels of the picket line.

813
00:52:30.960 --> 00:52:34.480
Oh my god. Yeah. They tried their best to get

814
00:52:34.519 --> 00:52:38.280
strikers to react violently, but Sessa Chavis insisted that they

815
00:52:38.320 --> 00:52:42.119
resist because again, nonviolence. He was very big on peaceful

816
00:52:42.199 --> 00:52:46.840
protest and so on the first Sunday after the strike began,

817
00:52:47.159 --> 00:52:51.079
the only day off for the workers, Filipino and Mexican

818
00:52:51.440 --> 00:52:53.800
members and their families met at a park where they

819
00:52:53.840 --> 00:52:56.880
had a kaddasada and they broke piatas together, the children

820
00:52:56.960 --> 00:53:00.000
and those. Yeah, they really came together. These are two

821
00:53:00.039 --> 00:53:03.159
group said, prior to this had not come together. So

822
00:53:03.239 --> 00:53:07.639
I just love this unity that sadly would not last. Yeah,

823
00:53:07.800 --> 00:53:14.519
because of which, right, huh? I said, because of Chavis? Right? No, precisely, okay,

824
00:53:14.719 --> 00:53:18.440
And we'll get into that in part two. So says

825
00:53:18.639 --> 00:53:23.880
Chavis continued to rely on unconventional tactics tactics throughout this strike.

826
00:53:24.280 --> 00:53:28.159
He got Father Keith Kenny, a priest from Sacramento who

827
00:53:28.280 --> 00:53:33.960
also had a pilot license, to find them and the

828
00:53:34.440 --> 00:53:37.239
yeah to buy him above the fields on his Cessna

829
00:53:37.320 --> 00:53:42.320
one eighty. Father Kenny had also mounted portable speak of

830
00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:45.599
portable speaker system onto the plane. His plane's name was

831
00:53:45.599 --> 00:53:50.239
El Macho. Okay, okay, And so, says Chavis, would speak

832
00:53:50.679 --> 00:53:54.280
to the strikers from the plane while they flew around

833
00:53:54.280 --> 00:53:56.960
above it. Wow. This did get them in trouble though

834
00:53:58.239 --> 00:54:01.960
when they landed to grow and those are the farm owners,

835
00:54:01.960 --> 00:54:06.840
the growers. Yeah, so two growers and a sheriff for

836
00:54:06.960 --> 00:54:10.920
their waiting for father Kenny and Cesar Chavis, and they

837
00:54:11.360 --> 00:54:15.559
charged SASA Travis with violating the County Ordinance of Broadcasting

838
00:54:15.599 --> 00:54:18.440
from the error and they were like, they couldn't arrest

839
00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:21.199
them for that. They had to file complaints to the FAA.

840
00:54:21.280 --> 00:54:25.480
Oh wow, that's so random. Mm hmmm. Another thing that

841
00:54:25.559 --> 00:54:28.159
was very important to Sesar Chevis was for them to

842
00:54:28.199 --> 00:54:32.039
have a newspaper for the union, and they did. Okay,

843
00:54:32.119 --> 00:54:35.440
I remember learning about that. Yeah, it was called the Malcriado.

844
00:54:35.719 --> 00:54:39.760
What a name. Okay, Okay, you don't like translate this in English?

845
00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:47.440
Don't hate it? Boil right, oh, I would say so, yeah,

846
00:54:47.440 --> 00:54:49.280
I guess so someone that was in like raised right,

847
00:54:49.639 --> 00:54:54.480
oh yeah, doesn't behave Well, it's whatever translated to misbehaved,

848
00:54:54.480 --> 00:54:59.559
the misbehaved one. I guess if you like, if you

849
00:54:59.639 --> 00:55:03.719
literally translate it, yeah yeah yeah, but I guess we

850
00:55:03.760 --> 00:55:06.719
would use it as someone that spoiled. So yeah, that's

851
00:55:06.760 --> 00:55:08.840
what I took it as. But I'm I mean it

852
00:55:08.880 --> 00:55:13.679
could be also misbehaving, so yeah, yeah, when you think

853
00:55:13.719 --> 00:55:15.880
of it as the misbehaved one, Yeah, I like the

854
00:55:15.960 --> 00:55:19.000
name better than the spoiled one. Yeah, but that's just

855
00:55:19.159 --> 00:55:23.119
the newspaper's name in milk Triallo and the man Criado

856
00:55:23.199 --> 00:55:26.719
was essential for spreading news and keeping spirits high, and

857
00:55:26.960 --> 00:55:31.119
the newspaper was bringing more outside help to the union.

858
00:55:32.159 --> 00:55:36.800
The newspaper was how Steve, Steve Valdez found about found

859
00:55:36.800 --> 00:55:39.519
out about all this. And Steve Valdez was the son

860
00:55:39.599 --> 00:55:42.079
of farm workers. He wasn't a farm worker himself. He

861
00:55:42.119 --> 00:55:44.440
had actually gone to college and was like a playwright.

862
00:55:44.800 --> 00:55:48.039
He had an off Broadway show in New York, So

863
00:55:48.639 --> 00:55:52.559
pretty big deal, I think so as a as the

864
00:55:52.559 --> 00:55:54.920
son of a farm worker and as a Mexican American,

865
00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:58.800
he was always aware of the injustice and racism, and

866
00:55:59.039 --> 00:56:01.559
like he talked about one time when he was in school,

867
00:56:01.639 --> 00:56:04.280
he wanted to be a hall monitor and they chose

868
00:56:04.320 --> 00:56:06.239
a white kid over him, And when he demanded to

869
00:56:06.280 --> 00:56:09.159
know why, the teacher told him, well, this student is

870
00:56:09.199 --> 00:56:11.119
the son of a grower. He needs to learn to

871
00:56:11.119 --> 00:56:13.440
give orders, and you're the son of a farm worker,

872
00:56:13.559 --> 00:56:18.000
you need to learn to receive orders. Wow, isn't that

873
00:56:18.039 --> 00:56:20.119
so bullshit? Like what the fuck? What do you mean?

874
00:56:20.880 --> 00:56:26.199
H hate that? Yeah, I hate that. So when Steve

875
00:56:26.880 --> 00:56:30.840
Valdes's mom would send him update the newspaper, basically send

876
00:56:30.840 --> 00:56:32.679
it to him, so he could read about it. He

877
00:56:32.760 --> 00:56:35.599
reached out to Sasa Chevis and was like, I want

878
00:56:35.599 --> 00:56:37.880
to work for the union. I want to work with

879
00:56:37.920 --> 00:56:40.559
you guys. And he offered to hold planes and so

880
00:56:40.639 --> 00:56:42.320
sarch Chavis told him like, we don't have money, we

881
00:56:42.360 --> 00:56:44.480
can't pay you, we have nothing to offer. But Steve

882
00:56:44.599 --> 00:56:49.039
Valdez was in and he started doing little skits at

883
00:56:49.159 --> 00:56:53.760
the picket lines. At first this was educational, but then

884
00:56:54.000 --> 00:56:56.800
a little bit of comedy was added in Okay, Teatro

885
00:56:57.000 --> 00:57:01.360
Campetino was born. Okay, I think I heard of that also,

886
00:57:01.519 --> 00:57:04.559
I'm sure you have. The strike was only growing stronger

887
00:57:05.440 --> 00:57:10.119
when Kern County Sheriff threatened picketers. So when the Kern

888
00:57:10.199 --> 00:57:13.280
County Sheriff threatened picketers by telling them that they couldn't

889
00:57:13.320 --> 00:57:16.840
shout welga because it was legal, says that Chevis recruited

890
00:57:16.880 --> 00:57:19.519
Helen Chamis. He asked her and a group of women

891
00:57:19.519 --> 00:57:21.920
if they would be willing to be arrested, and of

892
00:57:21.960 --> 00:57:27.719
course they were. So a group of women, a dozen ministers,

893
00:57:27.760 --> 00:57:31.719
and some farm workers got together on the morning of

894
00:57:31.760 --> 00:57:36.239
October nineteenth, nineteen sixty five. It was a total of

895
00:57:36.280 --> 00:57:39.280
forty four members and they went outside of the camp,

896
00:57:39.800 --> 00:57:42.440
the camps of one of the rowers. They stood out

897
00:57:42.440 --> 00:57:44.639
there and they just began shouting welga at the top

898
00:57:44.679 --> 00:57:47.880
of their lungs. All forty four of them were arrested

899
00:57:47.960 --> 00:57:50.760
and charged with unlawful assembly and just serving the peace.

900
00:57:51.599 --> 00:57:55.199
The Union did not post bail. They held a vigil

901
00:57:55.280 --> 00:57:58.079
outside of the jail where they had the children of

902
00:57:58.159 --> 00:58:02.119
the mothers who had just been arrested. The present. Actually,

903
00:58:02.880 --> 00:58:06.679
you know, I love that. Yeah, I mean like genius

904
00:58:06.719 --> 00:58:08.559
because now it's is tugging at the hearts of people

905
00:58:08.599 --> 00:58:10.599
who are like, we don't have enough money to bail

906
00:58:10.679 --> 00:58:14.480
their mothers. Look at the children. They raised a thousand

907
00:58:14.559 --> 00:58:19.559
dollars from this. Wow, they know what works. Yeah. Yeah.

908
00:58:20.159 --> 00:58:23.840
This is also when the FBI began their official surveillance

909
00:58:23.880 --> 00:58:26.960
of the Union and they reopened that file that they

910
00:58:27.039 --> 00:58:30.639
out on Seesar travel. Wait that name. It doesn't that

911
00:58:30.800 --> 00:58:36.000
so familiar? Yep. And so of course we can't talk

912
00:58:36.039 --> 00:58:38.440
about every single thing the Union did. I will get

913
00:58:38.480 --> 00:58:42.400
a little more into this whole grape strike situation because

914
00:58:42.440 --> 00:58:45.320
this lasted a long time, you know. Then we have

915
00:58:45.440 --> 00:58:48.599
the march, the famous famous march. I'm going to get

916
00:58:48.639 --> 00:58:52.280
into all that, and and hopefully we'll get into more

917
00:58:52.320 --> 00:58:56.360
of the downfall of the union and the split between

918
00:58:56.360 --> 00:59:00.400
the Filipino farm workers from them as well. Sit it

919
00:59:00.519 --> 00:59:03.159
on next episode. This is where I'm going to end it.

920
00:59:03.280 --> 00:59:08.320
I'm actually very curious about this sitting on angle and

921
00:59:08.400 --> 00:59:16.519
I'm scared to find out thing yellow yellow Yeah, okay, yeah, wow,

922
00:59:17.000 --> 00:59:21.960
very interesting so far. Yeah. I meant, honestly meant to

923
00:59:22.039 --> 00:59:24.920
keep this shorter, but it was impossible. Yeah. I was like,

924
00:59:25.280 --> 00:59:32.280
when when's she gonna's I need that to be on

925
00:59:32.320 --> 00:59:36.559
the record, It'll say on the record. I'm lying. I

926
00:59:36.599 --> 00:59:39.119
don't want you to defame me. Not this month, please

927
00:59:39.559 --> 00:59:42.159
not this month. No, we can't. But yeah, I mean

928
00:59:42.199 --> 00:59:44.840
I wanted to mention all this because honestly, we have

929
00:59:44.960 --> 00:59:47.639
to remind I mentioned everything that we can, but also

930
00:59:47.679 --> 00:59:50.719
like very basic because this is just still service level.

931
00:59:50.760 --> 00:59:52.599
I mean, it's a little more than space level. But yeah,

932
00:59:52.800 --> 00:59:54.440
so much so. I'm gonna have to check out this

933
00:59:54.519 --> 00:59:58.800
book from you, A fascinating, fascinating book. It's called The

934
00:59:58.840 --> 01:00:02.199
Crusade of actual book right, not like an ebook. I

935
01:00:02.239 --> 01:00:04.440
have the e book the book because I didn't want

936
01:00:04.440 --> 01:00:07.960
to wait. I wanted to something. Okay, Yeah, I'm running

937
01:00:08.039 --> 01:00:13.199
into that myself because I'm waiting for a book. Yeah,

938
01:00:13.239 --> 01:00:15.920
and I have ordered books and waited. Yeah, but it's rough.

939
01:00:15.960 --> 01:00:18.440
Waiting is rough, it is, it is. I die inside

940
01:00:18.480 --> 01:00:20.760
the more I have to wait. I had to wait

941
01:00:20.800 --> 01:00:23.400
because the e book was like thirty something dollars and

942
01:00:23.440 --> 01:00:26.280
I found a youth book from Powell's that's being sent

943
01:00:26.400 --> 01:00:30.400
to me. Okay, and it's only twenty of those ten dollars. Okay,

944
01:00:30.559 --> 01:00:33.280
that's nice. Yeah, and of course ours are all in

945
01:00:33.280 --> 01:00:38.280
the show notes. But this author is a journalist. It's

946
01:00:38.360 --> 01:00:41.039
probably the most in depth bug fray that exists of

947
01:00:41.079 --> 01:00:44.199
says such Javis. Fired into the book, she puts some

948
01:00:44.320 --> 01:00:46.280
articles out on I want to say it was the

949
01:00:46.400 --> 01:00:49.079
La Times about says such Javist. Those articles were the

950
01:00:49.119 --> 01:00:53.719
precursor to her book. But the book goes way more

951
01:00:53.719 --> 01:00:56.599
in depth. And this isn't even like again, way more

952
01:00:56.599 --> 01:00:59.119
in depth. I highly recommend the book to everyone, but

953
01:00:59.480 --> 01:01:01.760
I mean even mentioning this stuff. It's like stuff I

954
01:01:01.760 --> 01:01:05.440
didn't know what about. I know you've said of such

955
01:01:05.519 --> 01:01:10.760
Javis Okay, okay, I actually as a crusader crusades, I

956
01:01:10.800 --> 01:01:13.440
think that would be close enough to find it. Still,

957
01:01:13.840 --> 01:01:17.800
the Crusades of sa such Chabis by Miriam Powell. And

958
01:01:17.840 --> 01:01:20.880
again it'll be in the show notes. So yeah, we

959
01:01:20.960 --> 01:01:24.719
have reached the end of this part one and I'm

960
01:01:24.880 --> 01:01:29.320
hoping only two parts in total, but it maybe three

961
01:01:30.760 --> 01:01:35.039
because yeah, we'll see, we'll see. So yeah, anything else

962
01:01:35.039 --> 01:01:37.800
side before we go. I know you're hungry, so probably not. No, no, no,

963
01:01:37.840 --> 01:01:41.079
I gotta go. All right's gotta go. Thanks for listening.

964
01:01:41.239 --> 01:01:43.719
Thank you new listeners. Oh wait, sorry, no, I did

965
01:01:43.760 --> 01:01:46.719
have something to say. I noticed on Spotify and we

966
01:01:46.800 --> 01:01:50.679
have a one new rating. Oh so thank you whoever

967
01:01:50.719 --> 01:01:53.559
that was. Thank you for bringing our average up. We

968
01:01:53.559 --> 01:01:56.719
are not at four point one. Oh good, because remember

969
01:01:56.880 --> 01:01:58.920
for a while we were at three point nine. Let's

970
01:01:58.960 --> 01:02:02.000
not speak of those times. That's not spend those times.

971
01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:05.039
And we know, we know, yeah, we're not going to

972
01:02:05.079 --> 01:02:08.280
get into it. We released episodes on a certain someone,

973
01:02:08.480 --> 01:02:10.480
certain people that are fan of that. When someone found

974
01:02:10.519 --> 01:02:15.480
it bombarded us with one stars, so yeah, look at it.

975
01:02:15.519 --> 01:02:20.320
That was it anyway. Yeah, thanks new listeners that are

976
01:02:20.400 --> 01:02:25.159
checking us out, people finding us probably Threads honestly is lazy.

977
01:02:25.400 --> 01:02:29.480
Maybe Threads welcome. Yeah, listeners, thank you. We hope that

978
01:02:29.519 --> 01:02:31.800
you like what you listen to and everyone else. We

979
01:02:31.840 --> 01:02:35.320
hope that this was one less estoria known for you. Bye,