Dolores Huerta: César Chávez’s family had always lived in Arizona in Mexico.
Border guard 1: [move border] Now it’s in the United States!
Grandfather Cesario: So now I’m American Right?
Border guard 2: Well, I don’t know about that.
Border guard 3: Yeah, you just look like a Mexican to me.
Father: Look papá! A baby boy! We’ll name him César after you!
Grandfather: What a lovely baby.
Little César: I love to play on my family’s farm!
Mother: Bad news. We need to leave our home because we can’t pay the government the taxes that we owe.
Little César: So we’re homeless now?
Mother: Yes, that’s the word when you don’t have a place to live.
Father: We have to travel from farm to farm looking for work.
Mom: You will have to work, too, César.
Little César: Now we drive all around California working on farms. There are new towns and new schools.
Teacher 1: Hi! I’m your new teacher.
Teacher 2: Hi! I’m your new teacher.
Teacher 3: Hi! I’m your new teacher.
Teacher 4: Hi! I’m your new teacher.
Teacher 5: Hi! I’m your new teacher.
Little César: ¡Ay! !Aún otra escuela! ¡Aún otra maestra!
Teacher 6: Stop that! It is bad to speak Spanish! Only dumb people speak Spanish!
Bigger César: Eso no es justo.
Teacher 7: Go sit in the corner. Wear this dunce hat.
Bigger César: Never mind. I need to go work to feed my family. 7th grade will have to be enough.
Recruiter: Join the Navy and defend the United States!
Big César: Aye-aye, sir! [marches around a lot] Wow. That was the worst 2 years of my life!!
Sign carrier: [silently carries sign across stage]
Big César: So that’s what I get for helping defend the United States? People talk about me like I’m a dog? Like I’m not even American?
Worker 1: So where is the organizer who is coming to speak with us?
Big César: Uh… It’s me!
Worker 2: Don’t make me laugh!
Worker 3: You are the leader who is going to get us fairness in our work?
Big César: No, I’m not. You’re the ones who are going to get yourselves fairness at work. I am here to help and lead, but you’re the ones who have to do the job.
Union buster 1: You better quit protesting and get back to work!
Union buster 2: Yeah, you’re pretty small. I bet if I hit you with this stick you would just dry up and blow away.
Big César: That’s probably true, but there are a lot more than me here.
Crowd: ¡Si se puede! ¡Si se puede! ¡Si se puede!
Dolores Huerta: Actually, that was MY line. Not César’s. Like he said— we’re the ones that have to do the job. Not just him. [winks]
Worker 4: César, the stuff they are spraying on the grapes is getting on us and making us sick!
Worker 5: I wonder if it is making people sick when they eat it?
Owner 1: Of course not! It helps me make more money when I spray the grapes. It’s perfectly safe. I would be happy to stand right there beside you in the fields when they spray.
Older César: OK, then. How about tomorrow at 7:00 in the morning when we are working and they airplane comes to spray?
Owner 1: Um, I’d like to, but I have to get a haircut then.
UFW member 1: César, please drink some of this broth I made you! It is not good to stop eating for so many days!
Older César: I… can’t… this … is how… I show… that it is… more important to me… than life or death.
UFW member 2: ¡Ay, César! If you go on hunger strike like this, you will damage your health. You probably won’t even live to be 70 years old!
Dolores Huerta: [aside] Yeah, we told him, but he wouldn’t listen. Look at me! I’m almost 90 now, and I just go, go, go! ¡Viva la causa! In fact, César will die at age 66. He won’t even live to see the year 2000.
All workers and UFW members: ¡No compran uvas! ¡No compran uvas!
Kid: Mommy, can we buy some grapes? They’re my favorite fruit!
Mom: Well, you like oranges, too, don’t you? The farm workers outside wouldn’t ask us not to buy grapes unless it was really important.
Kid: Yay! Oranges!
Owner 2: Will you look at all this fruit? It’s just rotting! This will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!
Owner 3: Wow. Who knew we needed people so badly?
Owner 4: Yeah, it’d probably just be cheaper to pay the UFW better wages, don’t you think?
UFW member 3: My feet feel like they are on fire!
UFW member 4: How far can Sacramento be, anyway?
UFW member 5: Only about 5 hours.
All UFW members: [yelling] That’s only if you are driving in a car! We’re walking the whole way!
UFW member 6: ¡Ay! Hey, has anyone seen César?
Older César: This better be awfully important. I’m supposed to be out somewhere near Tracy walking all the way to Sacramento.
Farm owners: OK, fine Mr. Chávez. You win. Let’s negotiate a contract!
Farm owner 5: You’re a pretty tough opponent, Mr. Chávez.
Older César: Look I told you, I told them, I told everybody. It’s not me: it’s all of us. It’s the whole United Farm Workers. It’s all our families. It’s all the people who do the work that you need to get done. That’s who!
No comments:
Post a Comment