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Raphael Directo has strong feelings about unity!

November 1999.

RAPHAEL DIRECTO

Raphael Expresses His Feelings On Unity at a Union Meeting.

I come from a family that has struggled. I'm a farm worker kid. My parents and grandparents have all struggled, and one of the things that I see that really saddens me is when I see a lack of compassion and fire and unity. In my life I have watched people who had nothing, struggle for their livelihood. Wake up! Because this is your livelihood. Times are changing, everything is changing, this is so important. When I sit here and see the conflicts back and forth it frustrates me. When I came here I looked up to every person who struggled to make this happen. Right now I see people who are looking at other people who are losing their livelihood and we're not supporting them. These are the people who put their lives, their livelihood on the line to strike to put us in a place that we are now. Right now we're betraying what they fought for. It really p%sses the sh#t out of me to be honest because I have seen people put their lives on the line and die for the thing you guys are fighting for right now. I feel we are being so passive about this whole situation. We are not putting ourselves on the front line and putting our whole souls behind it. If we're gonna do this we all have to be united. We may have differences. What makes us united is that we work together and we have a certain love and affection for one another That's what it's gonna take. I would be the first person out there for you guys because I feel privileged and that I'm at where I am now because you set the standard. I can't just turn my head and look the opposite way and say it's not gonna happen. We have got to be strong. We have got to be united. And we have got to have fire. I feel that we have to put this thing through and go forward because it's important to every single person here.


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