Cesar Chavez Speech Analysis

Chassidy Walton
Ms.Mignott
Literature
1/3/15

Cesar Chavez uses morals and his audience fear of destruction to justify his stance on non-violent protests . Martin Luther King jr was an activist and civil rights leader that did not use violence to get his point across like many other activists at that time. Cesar Chavez wrote on the anniversary of his death explaining why using nonviolence is the way to advocate rights for those in need. His article was put in a religious organization that helped people who were in need of help. Cesar Chavez uses morals as a way to appeal to the religious side of his audience. Cesar Chavez also uses the fear of losing power to prove that doing nonviolent protests are the right way to spread his cause.

Cesar Chavez uses the moral aspect behind non-violence in order to appeal to the religious side of the magazine to develop his argument.

Cesar Chavez explains the effect of violent protests by stating, “ Nonviolence supports you if you have a just and moral cause. Nonviolence provides the opportunity to stay on the offensive, and that is of crucial importance to win any contest. If we resort to violence then one of two things will happen: either the violence will be escalated and there will be many injuries and perhaps deaths on both sides, or there will be total demoralization of the workers.” Cesar believes that using violence is the immoral thing to do, that can result in accidents. Not using violence will always help you have a stronger message than using violence will. By addressing morals his readers will have a closer understanding about what he is saying. The activist shows how violence is immoral by stating, “ If we beat the growers at the expense of violence, victory would come at the expense of injury and perhaps death. Such a thing would have a tremendous impact on us. We would lose regard for human beings. Then the struggle would become a mechanical thing. When you lose your sense of life and justice, you lose your strength.” Cesar Chavez explains that using violence to injury people is an immoral way to act and it will not help your cause. The idea of injuring is not a moral way to protest and Chavez uses this argument to appeal to his religious

audience that are in need of help.
Cesar Chavez develops his argument by using the fear of his audience who need help. Chavez explains the mistakes of using violence in the past by stating,“Examine history. Who gets killed in the case of violent revolution? The poor, the workers. The people of the land are the ones who give their bodies and don’t really gain that much for it.” He wants to use examples from the past to show that violence will continue to destroy them. Violent protests will only repeat the damaging past over again. Cesar uses his audience fear of being oppressed to convince them by stating, “ Those who espouse violence exploit people. To call men to arms with many promises, to ask them to give up their lives 85 for a cause and then not produce for them afterwards, is the most vicious type of oppression. ” Cesar Chavez wants to make using non violence aware because he knows that using violence has never ended well in history. He uses the fear of there being more death and oppression to persuade his readers.
Cesar Chavez uses his readers fear of oppression from the past and moral standing to expand his argument of non violent protests. Cesar used many tactics to appeal to his audience like the late Martin Luther King. He explains that using violence makes a person morally wrong. He also wants his readers to know that using violence only repeats their oppressive history. His article helps the people in need realize that not being violent can will help them gain power.