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"We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own." ~Cesar Chavez

11 - we were there

©1998 Bev Grant
www.bevgrant.com

We have plowed, we have planted, we have gathered into barns.
Done the same work as the men with babies in our arms
But you won't find our stories in most history books you read
We were there, we're still here fighting for the things we need.

We were there in the factories,
We were there in the mills,
We were in the mines and came home to fix the meals.
We were there on the picket lines
We raised our voices loud
It makes me proud just knowing we were there.

From the textile mills of Lawrence, to the sweatshops in New York
From the fields of California where our children had to work
We fought to make a living, bread and roses was our cry.
Though they jailed and beat our bodies, our spirits never died.

We were Polish, we were Irish, we were African and Jew
Italian and Latino, Chinese and Russian too.
They tried to use our differences to split us all apart
But the pain we felt together touched the bottom of our hearts.

We are teachers, we are doctors, we are cooks and engineers
Letter carriers, truck drivers, conductors and cashiers.
We operate machinery, we fly the big airplanes,
And we helped to build our unions, we got struggle in our veins.

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