A framed picture of Cesar Chavez with his revolutionary allure has for years claimed a spot on my family-room bookshelf. Now it sickens me that an image that inspired such pride in the U.S. farmworkers’ movement and its leader is so tarnished.
The recent revelations about the late Chavez’s alleged sexual offenses, including against girls, have forced the picture off the shelf. Even in this age of Jeffrey Epstein and so many other public figures now revealed to be sex offenders, I’ve had an easier time imagining such wealthy men of power and privilege in those predatory roles. A leader renowned for organizing and marching alongside some of the most marginalized Latino farmworkers doesn’t smothly fit the stereotype.
But in letting go of Chavez’s picture, I’m also throwing out the stereotypes about the good guys and the bad guys. Sexual violence runs the gamut. You can be an enlightened leader and also a misogynist.
For those reasons, it’s good to see U.S. cities, states, universities, libraries, parks and even the César Chavez Foundation walking the walk. They’ve set about removing Chavez’s name and image from public spaces to mark their disapproval of his sexual misconduct. In Denver, a park named for Chavez will be renamed, and a bronze status of him is being removed. A Chavez statue at California State University is on its way out. California’s legislature is voting to rename César Chavez Day Farmworkers Day, with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval.
Washington state’s governor, Bob Ferguson, won’t be making a proclamation to honor this César Chavez Day. And in Texas and Arizona, Chavez’s home state, other events have been canceled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
This stands to reason. Tempting as it may be to make exceptions for our heroes, we can’t whitewash abuses by them that we’d condemn others for.
So I’m having a hard time understanding how Republican politicians including Iowa’s can continue to defend Donald Trump, or at least simply shrug off the multiple sexual abuse allegations made against this President. That’s despite two court rulings holding him liable for sexual misconduct against E. Jean Carroll and 34 felony convictions of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, who described a hotel-room sexual encounter with him she said she hadn’t wanted. And more recently, about two dozen women have publicly accused Trump of past sexual misconduct, some of those related to his connection to Jeffrey Epstein. Leaks about still classified materials suggest sexual interactions with underage girls.
The allegations against Chavez, who died in 1993, came to light in a March 18 New York Times investigation. It reported that many of his victims worked or volunteered for the movement. Most prominent is Dolores Huerta, now 95, with whom Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers of America) in 1962. She said her two nonconsensual encounters with him, in her 30s, left her pregnant. She arranged for other families to raise the children.
I had the privilege of having tea with Huerta in Des Moines in 2009, when her main agenda was getting Sen. Chuck Grassley, then one of three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, to support a health care reform bill. She pleaded, “We need Iowa to rescue us.”
It didn’t, but we had a wonderful talk anyway. She was engaging, witty, a strong supporter of women’s rights and so knowledgeable. It breaks my heart to hear she was a victim of Chavez’s.
Huerta finally broke her silence on that after reading the Times’ interviews with two women, the daughters of farm organizers, who were 12 and 13 years old respectively when they say Chavez first abused them. He was 45. They said it continued for five years. One of them said she twice attempted suicide because of it. But many victims kept it a secret out of shame and reluctance to tarnish his image.
Being a bit more willing to tarnish Trump’s image could improve the standing of many Republicans in Congress, but apparently it doesn’t suit their agendas. Maybe their political futures depend on his endorsements. Or maybe they just don’t give a damn about rape. Only five U.S. House members – three of them women – have been openly critical of the withholding of Epstein file materials.
The Cesar Chavez Foundation, which you might have expected to make excuses for its namesake, is doing the opposite. Its website calls the revelations “shocking, incredibly disappointing, and deeply painful,” saying, “This goes completely against our commitment to justice and community empowerment. To the survivors: we believe you. We honor your courage, and we are very sorry for the harm you have carried in the shadows for so long…”
Speaking to ABC News’ John Quinones recently, Huerta said of Chavez “He was a great leader but unfortunately he had an evil side to him.”
Some Democratic leaders want Huerta’s name to replace Chavez’s in prominent places honoring farmworker struggles. That’s an excellent idea, and a good way to honor women’s struggles too. In fact, I just figured out who’s replacing Chavez on my family-room shelf.
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