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I'm not very different from anyone else who has ever tried to accomplish something with his life. My motivation comes from my personal life, from watching what my mother and father went through when I was growing up, from what we experienced as migrant workers in California. That dream, that vision grew from my own experience with racism, with hope, with a desire to be treated fairly, and to see my people treated as human beings and not as chattel. It grew from anger and rage, emotions I felt 40 years ago when people of my color were denied the right to see a movie or eat at a restaurant in many parts of California. It grew from the frustration and humiliation I felt as a boy who couldn't understand how the growers could abuse and exploit farm workers when there were so many of us and so few of them.

Cesar Chavez#21

JusticeWorkCivil rightsMigrant workersMotivationExploitationRacism

About this quote

What does it mean?
Chavez attributes his motivation to personal experiences with racism, exploitation, and family hardship as a migrant worker.
In plain terms
My drive comes from my parents struggles and facing racism as a farm worker.
What can you take from it?
Personal struggle can fuel the fight for fairness.

Where it applies

  • personal development
  • leadership
  • advocacy

Putting it to work

  • storytelling
  • organizing
  • policy reform

Questions to consider

  • What experiences shaped your values?
  • How do you respond to injustice?

Another view

Not everyone channels anger into constructive action.

More from Cesar Chavez

  1. All my life, I have been driven by one dream, one goal, one vision: to overthrow a farm labor system in this nation that treats farm workers as if they were no…

    Permalink to quote #20
  2. I've traveled through every part of this nation. I have met and spoken with thousands of Hispanics from every walk of life, from every social and economic clas…

    Permalink to quote #22
  3. Today, thousands of farm workers live under savage conditions - beneath trees and amid garbage and human excrement - near tomato fields in San Diego County, to…

    Permalink to quote #19

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