The response was swift and decisive. Even before the publication of allegations that the legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez had abused young girls, the fallout began to rain down.
On Tuesday, the United Farm Workers, the union Chavez co-founded, had announced it would not be celebrating Cesar Chavez Day on March 31 due to “troubling allegations.” UFW officials clearly had some inkling of the story that would be published in the New York Times the next day. As the rest of the world caught up Wednesday morning, officials and organizations started canceling marches and celebrations in San José, San Francisco, and other cities in California, and in Arizona and Texas.
California Democratic leaders who had once bragged about their association with Chavez began the distancing process in earnest: They issued statements expressing shock at the news, praised the women who’d come forward and said they would stand by the victims and truth. Local leaders started discussing what to do with the many streets, schools and institutions named in his honor.
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When asked whether he would change the name of the official state holiday created for Chavez, Gov. Gavin Newsom said – during a press conference on a different topic (credit to him for not canceling it; he surely knew he would be grilled about the allegations) – that he was open to it but still “processing this.”
I was glad to hear no equivocating or excuse-making in the many statements, and no minimizing of the accounts or gaslighting of the women quoted in the story, among them another legendary labor leader, Dolores Huerta. (Huerta, who is 95, issued a separate statement Wednesday confirming her part of the story, including her assertion that she had two children as a result of being raped by Chavez, but kept it secret and gave them to other families to raise.)
Nor did Chavez’s former supporters cast doubt on the reporting itself. No one yelled “fake news,” or suggested that the story was a hit job ordered by labor’s enemies or the product of a biased media outlet. It was a refreshing change.
Josh Gohlke
The stunning speed with which the Democratic establishment backed away from one of its icons, a figure long-worshipped to a cult-like degree, underscores the differences in how the nation’s two largest political parties handle accountability.
While Democrats are rushing to jump on board the condemnation train, Republicans and millions of Americans continue to rally around a president who has boasted about preying on women; whose association with one of the most depraved child rapists in recent history, Jeffrey Epstein, is well known; who has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual assault or misconduct over the years; and whom a jury found liable for sexually assaulting one of them, E. Jean Carroll.
Republican strategist Mike Madrid (who grew up in Ventura and remembers the farmworker strikes well) told me that it’s healthy for the UFW and Democrats to take the lead in rewriting and rethinking the Chavez legacy. Their willingness to confront the testimony of the women contrasts directly with conservatives in other parts of the country who want to bring back the statues of Confederate leaders and slavers banished during the nation’s last attempt to reckon with its racist history.
“That’s a sign of real dysfunction,” he told me. “When people are found to be broken and fallen they ought to be brought down from the pedestal.”
Mariel Garza
But strongly worded statements, canceled celebrations and the potential renaming of schools, streets and the March 31 holiday won’t be enough. The offenses outlined in the story include crimes and a possible cover-up by union officials. One Democratic leader, U.S. Rep Norma Torres of Pomona, immediately called for a full law enforcement investigation of the allegations. I hope more political leaders follow her lead. Chavez may have died more than three decades ago, but the women named as his victims are still with us.
The women who’ve found the courage to speak out may be able to seek justice on their own. In 2019, a California state bill by former Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, who is now head of the California Federation of Labor Unions, lifted the statute of limitations for sexual assault lawsuits filed by people who were minors at the time they were attacked. And Assembly Bill 250, by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), passed last year opening a two-year period as of Jan. 1 in which adult victims of sexual assault can file civil lawsuits no matter how long ago the abuse occurred.
This could be more than just another posthumous airing of abhorrent behavior. If the victims of Chavez get justice, it will send other powerful organizations a signal: Protect your most vulnerable members, no matter how hard your icons fall.
