Latino Americans 5
Share your reflections on this episode. What details stand out to you? What specific information do you believe is important to retain? What details will you likely remember one year from now?
Diversity, Intersectionality, Otherness
First-Year Seminar in Critical Inquiry
This video was just as interesting as the last one. It talked more in depth about segregation, how white people sat in the middle and everyone else, anyone of race, sat on the sides until Cesar Chiavez sat in the middle and was arrested and released because sitting in the middle wasn’t illegal. The video was great at evoking the emotions of the time period with the people telling the story almost in tears, something that I think will stick with my a year from now.
After hearing all about the poor conditions that the Latino farm workers faced, it was interesting to finally hear about the reform from Chiavez and Huerta forming a union to fix the conditions and they eventually made a difference with schools too with non-violent demonstrations, as inspired by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. They were able to fix the low graduation rate by performing walk outs and marches for equality and those peaceful protests payed off.
But it was strange to me that Latinos grew a self-hatred of their own babies if they weren’t born white and I found that unsettling. People were deported because they were believed to be the cause of the Great Depression and the Latinos were basically seen as a scape goat for all the problems that white America was having during this time period.
Later on, however, women had some influence over people who were unaccepting of Latino Americans. Huerta made a lot of leeway with negoiating with racist people, and it was surprising to hear Kennedy’s compelling speech about people discriminating against Latinos and how he told the sheriff in California to read the Constitution over, something like what we saw with Donald Trump earlier this year.
Overall, it was interesting to hear about how not a lot has changed historically. People are still questioned about whether or not they have read the Constitution and understood it. People still peacefully protest, although they don’t get as much leeway as they did during this time, and police brutality against minority groups continues to be a daunting problem that our nation as a whole has to really change in order to see any reform on that front.
One thing that stood out to me was from the beginning of the video when Cesar Chavez desegregated all of the theaters in the valley. It is revolting to me that he would have even been arrested in the first place due to his involvement in the military, but was was significant was that it only took one case where a non white sat in the middle to change all of the theaters around forever. Something else that caught my attention during the video was the fact that the growers were threatened by Huerta. The video explains how the growers hated her and called her the dragon lady. This is significant because no where during the video do they convey this much hatred for Cesar Chavez as openly as they do for Dolores. This is primarily because she is a woman in a high authority state as a union representative and they don’t know how to handle this unfamiliar gender role. One thing that will stick with me from the film is the disrespect that Mexicans were treated with when trying to further their careers. One case was where a teacher tried to tell a young kid that he should follow in his fathers footsteps because cheap labor was an “honorable job”, and another scenario being a young woman who was told she should not bother participating in class because she wasn’t going to go to college and she would end up pregnant by the end of the year. Both of these situations are very bold and very insulting acts. It is upsetting to me that people would discourage happens and a thriving life to people who are trying to achieve more.
I’ve changed my mind and I think this is my favorite episode I’ve watched. I love learning about civil rights movements. I think it’s really exciting and fun to learn about. I think it’s interesting that much of this happened right around the time that Martin Luther King was giving his speech, so America was going through a revolutionary change. Ive honestly never heard of any of the Latin American Revolutions in history class, but it’s very interesting. I love how everyone was involved in the revolution: from women, to men, and to children. This episode also shows that the Latinos are working on the farms, which is relating to the Latinos today. I think one of the important facts to retain is that one of the revolutionaries is a women, Huerta. I love that many men were following in her lead, even though that was very unusual. Along with Chavez, she’s the one who started the farm labor union to try and get equal rights for the workers. I think it’s important to remember the demonstrations the workers had, like walking all the way to D.C. Chavez became an icon from that walk. I think one year from now, I’ll remember Huerta and the many demonstrations that the people had. Especially with the high schoolers, that resonates with me since I’m close to their age. I think the one unfortunate fact I’ll remember is the police throwing tear gas at the massive group of people giving a peaceful demonstration. It’s so sad that these people live in the same country, yet they can’t reach equality. I think that overall the episode was uplifting because it shows change, even if it’s slow.
This episode was filled with a lot of details and events that made the 19th century worth fighting for for the Latinos. A scene that stood out to me was the meeting with Robert Kennedy and the chief of police. Robert Kennedy was on the side of Cesar Chavez and Dolores. Mr. Kennedy asked the chief why the protestors (of a peaceful work strike) were being arrested, and his answer was “they’re ready to break the law”. His answer spoke for everyone that wasn’t on the side of the protestors. This can symbolize why the injustices happen; for no justifiable reason. Also, the educational protest of the eastern L.A. schools spoke as they were just like their elders in the working strike. Both protested for healthy changes among their environments and both were served with brutal, unnecessary actions from the authority.
It is shocking to see the things people went through when all they wanted was change; change that was necessary and fair. The fact that people were being put through the ringer and even had to go through beatings, the hard labor for low pay. Something that I will remember from this series, in general, would be the Latinos’ will to fight and never give up. Working for low pay for many generations and coming to a point where fighting for what is right is merit-worthy.
Latino Americans, episode 5 “Prejudice and Pride” focuses on the time period of the 1960s and 1980s where Mexican-Americans were faced with growing discrimination and poverty. This episode, much like episode 3 provided me with a wealth of new information. I never thought I would be so interested in learning about Latino-American history but these past episodes and writings opened my eyes to topics I realized I was truly fascinated in. There were many details that stood out to me, like when the navy war veteran “C.C” desegregated a movie theater in California by simply taking a seat in the middle of a movie theater with Anglos and the efforts of Sal Castro who organized and led the student walk-out in Los Angeles high schools. All of the episodes in this series tell the stories of Latino individuals and their contributions and accomplishments in history, but the efforts of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta stood out to me the most. Both Chavez and Huerta became some of the most prominent figures of the era, and both left their legacy as civil rights leaders and educators. Their efforts sparked a movement and inspired others to help make a difference and fight (peacefully) for equal rights. I believe it is important to retain the all of the information recognize the contributions of every Latino who helped fight for the equality we share today. What I will remember a year from now is Dolores Huerta’s work to improve the social and economic conditions for farm workers and children, since she accomplished so much even when being a woman and minority.