The main points in Cesar Chavez’s speech, “He Showed Us the Way”, are that nonviolence reigns over violence in power, the aftereffects of violence vs nonviolence, and what we as humans lose through using violence to solve our problems.
One of the main points in Cesar Chavez’s speech is nonviolence ruling over its opposite, violence. In the speech, Cesar Chavez compares and contrasts nonviolence and its opposite to clearly describe how nonviolence is superior. “Nonviolence has exactly the opposite effect. If, for every violent act committed against us, we respond with nonviolence, we attract people’s support.” This quote from the speech demonstrates how if people who’ve experienced violent acts towards them responded with nonviolence, it attracts people’s support. Imagine if someone was attacked by another person. If that same someone also responded violently, then people wouldn’t be as attracted to support the someone who was originally attacked because violence doesn’t generally appeal to people. When someone experiences
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Cesar Chavez speaks about how a win through violence is hardly a win because victories through violence come at the cost of injury and death, which is detrimental to us as human beings. “When victory comes through violence, it is a victory with strings attached. 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.” This quote from the speech shows how victory through violence has tremendous costs. On the other hand, using nonviolence allows people to participate and fight for what they believe in through non-violent ways like boycotts, marches, and strikes. These effective nonviolent “weapons” allow people to fight for change and keep their sense of strength and justice which would have otherwise been lost through