Opinion: Cesar Chavez betrayed Dolores Huerta — and all of us

When the news broke about labor leader Cesar Chavez, my first thought was: “These are only allegations.” I said to myself, “There is probably only one person still alive who probably knows the truth: civil rights leader Dolores Huerta.” After all, she was by his side for decades, fighting for the rights of farm workers across the United States.

Then came her statement the next day. The sickness in my stomach only grew. In an instant, the Latino/Chicano community across the United States lost an icon, and we were suddenly left defending another.

Just one day after The New York Times explosive investigation with accusations that Chavez assaulted two teenage girls, Debra Rojas and Ana Murguia, back in the 1970s, Huerta, now 96, made a bold decision to make a public statement on social media. She said she was raped by Chavez twice, back in the 1960s, and that both assaults resulted in pregnancies. She added that family members adopted the children, who gave them a stable life. It was a secret she kept to herself, she said, but hearing about the other assaults against young girls prompted her to come forward. 

The reaction was swift on social media. Activists posted photos of Dolores Huerta, calling her brave and saying they stand with her. Editorial cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz posted a mural of the two labor leaders, with the United Farm Workers logo between them, and showed a painter covering Chavez’s face entirely.

For many Chicanos, including me, Cesar Chavez was a hero in our community who betrayed us. He dedicated his life to the United Farm Workers union, marching, boycotting and going on hunger strikes, all in an effort to make life better for farmworkers and their families. My father was also a union organizer in the Midwest back then, who met Chavez on multiple occasions and believed in everything he stood for.

From city to city, bronze statues and murals of Chavez are already being covered up. City governments are suddenly left scrambling to decide what to do about the names of parks, schools and streets named after him.

Here in San Diego, in a memo addressed to Mayor Todd Gloria, City Councilwoman Vivian Moreno wrote, “Per the allegations that have come forward, I request that all city buildings, roads, holidays and parks that are named ‘Cesar Chavez’ be changed immediately.” Moreno acknowledged Chavez’s historical impact but stated, “Even our heroes have their day of reckoning.”

With Chavez’s birthday looming, days of honor in his name and events are being canceled. Will state holidays be canceled or renamed? Many are suggesting that everything that had Chavez’s name be replaced with Dolores Huerta’s or the United Farm Workers.

The thought that Cesar Chavez could now be categorized as a sex offender, along with names like Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, is atrocious. Latinos/Chicanos are left with a tarnished legacy of a man who was once a shining light to so many, but a man who had a dark side that somehow got missed or purposely ignored.

And what about Dolores Huerta? Will her spirit be broken forever? She told Latino USA’s Maria Hinojosa in an exclusive interview, “No!” And added, “I’m going to be ok. I have a wonderful family. I have a strong support system. I’ll get through this, and so will all of us in the movement. We are resilient people; we won’t let anything stop our progress. We will go forward until we get the respect and equity we deserve — especially women — until we cure this sickness in our society, attack this illness, and try to eliminate it.

There will be some who may second-guess why Huerta stayed silent after the abuse and why she continued to work alongside Chavez. She understands that, explaining she didn’t want to hurt the farmworker movement and the progress being made. “It was my personal pain and problem — I think it was worth it, it was my cross to bear.”

Huerta added that she hopes that by speaking out, it will encourage other victims of abuse not to stay silent and to seek healing.

But there’s no doubt, both her family and Chavez’s are forever changed.

So are we. Latinos/Chicanos across this country are in shock and mourning, left with the reality that this once heroic chapter in our own history will be entirely rewritten from a victory to a tragedy so many decades later.

Laura Castañeda is a long-time San Diego journalist and media educator.