S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman on today's show , A historian's perspective on how we teach and talk about the farm workers movement. After allegations of rape and abuse were made against Cesar Chavez. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So this week , we continue to grapple with the horrific allegations of sexual abuse by labor leader Cesar Chavez. A rapid effort is well underway to erase his name from schools , parks , streets , you name it. Last week , Mayor Todd Gloria signed an executive order directing city departments to remove public references to Chavez. Then tomorrow , the San Diego Unified School Board will vote on whether to rename Cesar Chavez Elementary School. And just one week out from Cesar Chavez Day. Lawmakers are trying to rename it Farm Workers Day. You see , the history of the movement does not begin or end with Chavez. And there's a lot more to the history. Joining me to talk about it is Veronica martinez Matsuda. She's an associate professor of history at UC San Diego. Professor , welcome.
S2: Thank you for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here.
S2: And I'm thinking , of course , particularly within the Latino immigrant community. But , you know , more broadly than that , people who've been active in social movements , who've been labor organizers and so forth. I mean , the the news was absolutely devastating. It already feels like we're under attack. And , you know , in recent years , with all of the anti-immigrant and poor people and Thai women and other things , right , that are going on actions taken by our federal government. So this just felt like an additional layer to that everyday violence we're all experiencing. And I think it's important to call attention to that because it's it's been ongoing. We've been talking quite a bit about it in the media in terms of , um , actions taken by Ice officials , for example. But there's also the everyday violence that our communities are experiencing in terms of cuts to social aid and funding for education and health care and more. So this just felt like one more thing as we're already struggling , as we're already exhausted and demoralized. And I think I know for myself and my friends who , you know , who are in these movements , It's just absolutely devastating. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And you know , I want to talk about , gosh , how do you teach about the history. And there are so many questions here. But before we do , I really want you to paint the picture for us of what it was like for farm workers in the 30s and 40s , because I know your research focuses on that time period and decades before the Delano grape strike to I mean , your book , Migrant Citizenship , it focuses on the farm labor camp program established by the New Deal. So tell me , what was life like for farm workers during that time ? Yeah.
S2: And I should say , actually , it was a very intentional move on my part not to focus on the UFW and Cesar Chavez and sort of the 1960s and 70s because as a historian , I felt that part of that history , at least academically speaking , was more well known. People had written about it. There was already emerging biographies on many of the leaders of the UFW. And so for me , I sort of thought earlier and was thinking to what our , you know , just really dynamic movements that existed while before the UFW comes into the picture of farmworker movements fighting for what are essentially human rights , because these were sort of basic needs , right ? Access to , uh , quality , um , housing and regular food and health care when needed , especially in working in such dangerous conditions. And so , um , by the time I'm kind of writing about workers in the 30s and 40s , um , just to give you an example , we've already had the organizing of unions affiliated , for instance , with the Industrial Workers of the world and the early 1900s , 19 teens , um , the Wobblies , as some of your listeners might know them , had formed as an example , the Agricultural Workers Organization by 1915. And it existed across the Great Plains , but eventually made its way west and had really effective organizing in places like the Yakima Valley and somewhat in California. After that , in the early 1930s , you get a lot of really great unions that are primarily affiliating with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , with the CIO. And one of the more well-known ones , for instance , is the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union , who leads some really militant action across the San Joaquin Valley. I often talk about the 1933 cotton strike , for instance , as an example of that , like community based organizing that existed. So , you know , by the time the UFW comes into the picture , they're building off this tradition and the foundation established by many of these communities and even mutual aid societies that they had formed in terms of how to organize , how to take action , and doing so under what were previously even more violent and intimidating situations.
S1: Yeah , and break that down for me. How did those organizing efforts eventually intersect with what we saw during the 60s , with union mergers and the strikes ? Yeah.
S3: Well , I'll give you one example.
S2: So some people know that Cesar Chavez and Dolores would get some of their organizing training as part of the community service organization that was led by Fred Ross at the time. So part of what Fred Ross was teaching , one of the kind of strategies was these House meetings. And so he talked about meeting people kind of where they're at. Right. And this quite literally took place in people's homes. And so how do you kind of build organization from that family level ? I mean , I think that's really important. Well , that couldn't have been as effective if not for those kind of family based , community based strategies that these workers already participated in. And so I mentioned those mutual aid communities as one example. But their religious communities , you know , this is how those , um , uh , places often operated. I mean , being especially excluded from broader legislation and even unions around labor protections , that's how families knew how to come together , how to affect change , how to build , um , kind of broader. Uh , yeah. Action. And so they were effective because people already recognized that as part of their strategies of that , if that makes sense. They , you know , especially in farm labor , but not only , um , they knew that collective strategy. They understood that collective strategy , even if it wasn't kind of under a formal union. Right.
S1: Right. You know , the five year Delano grape strike was organized primarily by Filipino American leader Larry Italian. Um , shortly after Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez joined in a merger that formed the United Farm Workers or UFW. And I actually had the honor of speaking with Dolores Huerta two years ago. Here's what she said about the strike.
S4: We were able to get 17 million people not to buy grapes , and that brought the growers to the table to negotiate , because the whole idea of organizing poor people , a low income people , is that you have to convince people that they have power. If they come together , they work together , and they use their political will by getting people registered to vote , turning them out to vote , putting pressure on the politicians and introducing legislation that that's the way you win.
S1: So tell me , what did that movement do for farmworkers ? Yeah.
S2: So one of the ways I like to teach the Delano grape strike is kind of this catalyst moment. Right ? This turning point is to talk about it less as a labor movement and more as a cause. In fact , I use some of the language that the UAW eventually , um , kind of extends , which is la causa. Right ? And , uh , some there's been a lot of discussion , for example , in , uh , historians have written so much about how it starts with the strike and then the movement eventually extends so that , you know , it's bringing in the the college sort of student movement. It's bringing in the religious movement , you know , that's happening at the same time. And and so I tell students , you know , you have to think of this less as a labor action and more of a social justice moment. It's la causa and the effectiveness of drawing this kind of wide solidarity , but also , uh , in establishing a boycott that would draw in the mainstream as consumers , including middle class consumers , um , makes it so effective. Right ? And , um , in fact , in talking about the current allegations and the current news. I was joking among friends who were saying , you know , to this day I'm not even sure if I can eat grapes. Like that's something that the collective memory around this one strike is so important , right ? That to this day , people sort of remember and recall that over generations. Um , and I think it's because of that , it's because it became a broader movement that certainly won labor gains , favorable contracts with grape growers , you know , for the first time , recognizing a union , um , bargaining on behalf of workers , pay increases and so forth. But it also paved the way for something much bigger that this kind of mainstream solidarity and consumer activism could , in fact , drive labor change. And , you know , that the most marginalized workers could kind of , uh , win these big gains was notable. And I and I think it has a lasting legacy that we see in organizations even today , like the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. You know , we just heard a clip from Dolores Huerta , who , you know , also came forward with her stories of sexual violence , rape by by Chavez. And she's someone who played like this major role in the movement , but but didn't always get the credit she deserved. When we talk about the farmworker movement and cause a lot of people think about Chavez , you know , and maybe only Chavez , but there are so many others who are foundational to this movement. So tell me a bit about what some you know , who some of those folks are. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. And , you know , I think this is an important question in the sense that it's the moment is is encouraging us to sort of look elsewhere. Right. Who's been overlooked. But it's also asking us to consider what it means to kind of highlight particular leaders or to kind of place the emphasis on particular leaders. And so what's really interesting about it is that Cesar Chavez , for his time , um , you know , along with Dolores Huerta , of course , but was , um , was quite a kind of an exceptional , uh , leader in that he encouraged the participation of families as leaders in the movement. And so what that meant was that often women entered into these leadership roles in really extraordinary ways for the time. Um , and that's a legacy that I don't think can be erased , even with the current news that's coming out. And so , for example , um , there's really important people , uh , I think of Jessica Thorburn , who's there's some stuff now being written about her , but she was a brilliant organizer for the UFW. She had graduated a valedictorian from Bakersfield High School. So someone who you knew was just really sharp. And she starts organizing. Actually , um , even earlier with Chavez , when he was still at the community service organization because her father had been a community leader himself , a Mexican-American activist himself. And so to go back to that point of farmworker movements have always involved families , right ? And women and children. That's how you get these kind of emergent leaders that they grow up in this. And so she becomes really central to the UFW , um , as an organizer , uh , eventually she's the national director of organizing for the UFW. But at the age of 21 , for example , we were talking about the grape boycott. She's sent to Canada to to do a lot of that kind of transnational , um , work of making sure the boycott had , you know , that kind of lasting power , that effect. Um , and , you know , she's one example of someone who , uh , was quite powerful. She eventually does become part of the UFW executive board. She is a leader in the UFW campaign against pesticide exposure. Sadly , she would eventually die of breast cancer and she'd always said it was due to the exposure she had experience working in the fields. You know , at an early age. I think she was a toddler when she started. Um , but she's also remarkable , um , which I've been hearing more discussion about this in terms of the , again , lasting power of UFW participation. So she would go on. I actually had first heard of her name while I was still a faculty at Cornell. Um , she , for example , co-directed part of the 1199 SEIU New York leadership development campaign. And what that was was this , um , campaign to educate new labor leaders , in this case , health care workers. And so many of these people had that , you know , long trajectory of impact.
S1: Yeah , yeah. You know , I just I want to talk about another piece of history that people might not know about and that , you know , Chavez has this complicated legacy when it comes to immigration.
S2: They viewed undocumented workers as a threat , um , as potentially undermining , of course , campaigns for better wages and conditions , but more generally. Right , sort of thinking about labor power breaking up , the kind of solidarity that was being established through these movements. And so and they this is , you know , historical truth. They did come , come in and often , um , serve as strikebreakers for , for strikes that were underway. And so , uh , he held a hard line again , as did many on the idea of labor restrictions on , um , certainly the kind of lasting impact of the farm labor recruitment program. So not , uh , not extending that program any further. Uh , those workers were contracted. They weren't undocumented , but the program still undermined the gains domestic workers were trying to make. And he carried out very controversial campaigns , including , um , you know , often asking the UFW , its members to essentially , uh , act as immigration officers report , you know , undocumented workers , uh , detain them , you know , as best they could and present them to immigration authorities. He used derogatory language , which was common at the time , um , and that , you know , kind of , uh , I think had also a lasting power on the UFW , not just on Chavez , but on what that as well that they were anti-immigrant. Um , but so was the , uh , I'd say majority of the labor movement at the time. Right , in that , in that same sort of way.
S1: I mean , as a historian and educator , how are you thinking about the way you teach about the farm workers movement and Cesar Chavez , in light of these recent allegations and his his legacy.
S2: Yeah , I think for me , and it's probably true for many educators that when we talk about this , it's never really been about Chavez or even about what's up , for that matter , but it's been about the issues that they sought to bring attention to about the conditions , right , that many of which continue to be , um , just has , um , sadly , right , as , uh , as terrific , as terrible. Um , and and it's been about their fight alongside farm workers who made the union effective. And so I'm happy to see that there's a lot of increased attention to the people that made the UFW write to those families who came together in the House meetings and elsewhere , and about their broader demand for , again , labor and human rights. And I don't see , um , a reason to kind of change that narrative. You know , if you if you continue to really center it around the people and the conditions and the actions , then it's still a positive history that is worthy of discussion.
S1: I've been speaking with Veronica martinez Matsuda , associate professor of history at UC San Diego. Professor , thank you so much.
S2: Thank you for having me today. Appreciate it.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
