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Commentary by Artists
Lupe Murguía: Solidarity reminds me of the strike in Coachella, in 1973. I remember this song because of all of the hard times that we had on the picket line. We had to get up at 3 in the morning. We had to make sure everyone was in their place on the picket line, so that when the scabs arrived, we would be ready to talk with them when they came.
And after the scabs had entered the fields, the Teamsters would arrive. They were always there, on the side of the growers, trying to humiliate us and hurt us. We always had to be careful, because the Teamsters were always roaming around, trying to catch us off guard.
This is the only song that we all knew. The whole picket line would sing the song. We never had a guitar, but we would all sing together. We would either pray, or sing Solidaridad. It gave us courage, and strength, and spirit, and valor.
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Francisco Garcia: I remember this song a lot. I was in
Salinas
. I had never heard songs like this sung before. I liked it so much. This song was so important, because it talked about the unity that we all needed to have to struggle together, so that we could win.
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Jerry Kay: Solidarity came from the labor movement and We Shall Overcome from the civil rights movement. At the time (late 60's-early 70's), We Shall Overcome was probably better known and more contemporary and I was immediately comfortable singing it. Solidarity felt a little old, but said something absolutely important to winning any struggle. But the way we sung them, mixing Spanish and English, sometimes changing the tempos or syllables made them 'ours' and fresh and gave us all something we could join in on together even when we weren't too proficient in one language or another. So the very act of farm workers and volunteers singing together these two important songs brought us closer and brought other supporters in because of the warmth and spirit of the songs and how we sang them.
I remember singing them in labor union halls and church meeting rooms in
New York City
,
San Francisco
and
Miami
---in any city we could muster support. I remember singing them in Filipino Hall in
Delano
,
La Paz
, and in
Salinas
, in the union hall and on the picket line. On the picket lines out in the fields with the strikebreakers working a half mile from our road, we sometimes felt awfully alone when we sang, and the songs were a great comfort, like a warm bowl of soup for the soul. When our spirits sagged, they lifted us up and our singing re-kindled the feeling we needed to hold on to in order to go on another day, another month, another year.
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