Starr County Melon Strikes
Lower Rio Grande Valley
Starr County Melon Strikes
On June 1st 1967, a turning point occurred for the United Farm Workers in
Texas. The
Melon strikes of Starr County, had been ongoing since June 1966. These
strikes were
organized by the Texas United Farm Workers Union in order to gain decent
wages. The standard wage for farm labor was .25 cents an hour. " The
strikers attempted to pressure
Governor Connally to call a special session to pass a minimum wage
bill,..."(Acuña
p329) But "when the legislature convened the $ 1.25 minimum wage was
rejected."(Samora p135) On June 1st two of the union organizers were
chased and falsely arrested
by the Texas Rangers. The Rangers used "brutal violence in arresting
the two union
men" (San Antonio Express 6/4/67) Benjamin Rodriquez and Magdaleno
Dimas were the
two men. "Dr. Ramiro Casso, a McAllen physician, said Dimas received a
brain concussion
in the worst beating he had ever seen law enforcement officers
administer."(SA Express
6/4/67) Both organizers were beaten by the Rangers in attempts to break
down the
leadership and effect that the melon strikes had gained. The owners of the
land were very
influential with both law enforcement and government." The charges
made against the
two union men were signed by Jim Rochester the assistant manager of La
Casita (one
of their farms involved in the dispute) who is also a special sheriff's
deputy in Starr
County." (SA Express 6/4/67) The labor union had a strong supporter in
Sen. Joe Bernal,
he quickly wrote to the Governor demanding removal of the Texas Rangers
from the
Rio Grande Valley. To Be a Texas Ranger during this period of Texas history
was best
described by Americo Paredes " The word rinche, from
"ranger" is an important one
in Border Folklore. It has been extended to cover not only the Rangers but
any other
American armed and mounted, looking for Mexicans to kill. " (Paredes.p
24) " A PostScript
to the Strikes was that in June 1972 a three-judge federal panel ruled that
the Texas-Rangers
used selective enforcement of Texas laws during the 1966-1969 strikes in
Starr County." (Acuña p. 329)
Analysis of the Corrido
In doing the Analysis of the corrido I have chosen to use John McDowell and
Luis Leal's
formulaic definitions of traditional corrido's. The five aspects of the
corrido
used in my analysis are metanarrative, iconicity, formulaic verse, speech
events
and propositional discourse. Metanarrative, is when the corrido tells a
story within another
story. This corrido is about the violent arrest of union leaders. The story
within
deals with the sentiments of the Governor and land owners towards the
Mexican labor.
Those sentiments force the farm labor to strike. Iconicity is another
aspect of this
corrido. It is the ability of the narrator to take an important event, give
few details
and still suggest a much larger picture of the events. This is seen in the
sixth
stanza , it exposes the truth behind the false arrest. It claims that the
Governor
of Texas ordered the arrest. The formulaic verse is a group of words that
are regularly
employed under the same metrical condition to express a given central idea.
(McDowell) In this corrido both formulaic verses are "Decía
Magdaleno Dimas " and "Decía Benjamin
Rodriguez " The importance is that the corrido is presenting it's two
main characters
in order to bring attention to the violence imposed by the Texas Rangers on
the Union. The audience identifies himself with the leaders cause and
violence suffered.
The speech event in the corrido is able to take an event and create a
larger picture
with few details. In this corrido the speech events address the aspect of
the victimization. The propositional discourse is an implicit or explicit
stand of moral statement.
This corrido is about the repression that violence tries to enforce upon
the strikers.
This is a shift in the way corridos have dealt with border conflict. The
corrido
has shifted from praising the heroic individual and his ability to outsmart
any obstacles
to a shift in strategy. A strategy of resistance by exposing the
victimization and
repression felt by the people. The explicit message in this corrido is that
if you
truly identify with the labor hardship the only choice is to join the Union
of Farm
Workers.
Marisol Rivera
UT Psychology/ Mexican-American Studies Student
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