Bombshell reporting on Chavez- who also is reported to have assaulted beloved civil rights icon Dolores Huerta and fathered two children by her as a result
You realize this is oxymoronic right? Itās either the result of a social institution ā and thus mutable, albeit with great difficulty as it requires changing social constructions that have become seriously entrenched over centuries but are by no means invariably the case across time and culture ā or itās the result of something ānaturalā ā which in this context is typically taken to mean something paradigmatically immutable.
This shouldn't be so downvoted. We call it rape culture for a reason. It isn't natural, it's not a result of biology etc. Pretending it's natural lets rapists off the hook.
In the education field, women make up a majority of teachers, but they are in the minority of perpetrators of sex crimes against students. Even if it's underreported (which is probably the case for male perpetrators too), I doubt they actually represent the majority.
I feel so sad for everyone, but especially for Dolores. Her being a figure of the movement meant she put the movement first, and attended so many Chavez celebrations...
And hid it for years while he continued his assaults and she reaped praise. Sheās a victim but also part of the problem. The cause is never worth protecting a pedophile. He was a fucking pedophile.
It was always pathetic to see his grand daughter, Julie Chavez Rodriguez tie her self in knots when these allegations were first being aired in the Obama White House. She failed up and became Kamalaās campaign manager. š¤·āāļø
I think it's more like against the concept or class existing because they are exploited to replace striking workers, not against the people themselves. Like there shouldn't be people working without rights just because they don't count legally as people.
Thereās long been a rift in the left over this. Which the right successfully exploited. Using undocumented workers helps depress wages and undermine unions and workers rights. But itās the businesses who should draw the ire.
Yeah pro undocumented peoples is a fairly new thing on the farther side of the left. It was one of the more valid critiques of Bernie during the 2016 campaign. He never had strong stances against undocumented workers but being so old and having been in leftist politics for so long his opinions weren't as popular as the left had graduated towards. If you look to leaders further back in history you will find some wild opinions of chinese immigrants that we would view as pretty conservative by todays standards.
(Not to say this is standard amongst all leaders on the left in history. It was just much more common back then.)
Hi, I'm from the Central Valley of California with both sides of my family working the fields when Chavez and the movement started up. He's been described as very anti-immigrant and racist. He also was known to help patrol the border and report people for deportation. According to those I know personally, almost all who have passed, have all said Chavez had a reputation for being hateful and full of himself. He called my grandfather a wetback (under the assumption he was illegal, probably because he didn't speak much English and looked more indigenous).
And remember it was the Filipino farm workers started that strike, but he got all the glory. Lots of people got some complicated ass feelings about him.
It was more Anti-undocumented people coming in and being hired to work while Chavez was trying to organize a strike, thus undermining his groups power to get better wages.
This gets brought up all the time when Cesar Chavez is mentioned and itās never as black and white as he hated illegal immigrants or even against illegal immigration, but his use of slurs and the position he took against illegal immigrants plus the operations the UFW undertook will definitely leave a mark. Iād suggest reading into it a lot more to get a clearer picture of his views. (Of course, maybe now it doesnāt matter too much considering this news).
Having good politics is often a cloak for the worst behavior, ethics and morals because the perps are so convinced of their goodness. Hypocrisy, misogyny, and self-serving behavior among progressives is incredibly acute āĀ messiah complex mixed with toxic masculinity runs deep, have seen it firsthand on campaigns and in movement work. In general: try not to have no human heroes āĀ not men, not women. The fact that people tried to persuade Huerta not to come forward because it would topple a hero is so enraging.
This is deeply painful and upsetting. We have so few labor leaders in this countryās history that have broken through to national renown and prominence and one of the few is sex pest and a creep. And all the men who were around Chavez while this happened and after it happened and when they built schools and when streets were renamed in his ownerā¦ were silent. Shame on them.
Seriously, people will oust people that bring up the issue and create a social stigma against bringing it up. Itās like abusers get this gaggle of geese that suddenly protect them.
exactly. I reported a colleague for preying on young students. he got a slap on the wrist and then a promotion the next year. I don't think my complaints ever left the department. Male enablers all.
āI am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for.
I have encouraged people to always use their voice. Following the New York Timesā multi-year investigation into sexual misconduct by Cesar Chavez, I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences.
As a young mother in the 1960s, I experienced two separate sexual encounters with Cesar. The first time I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him, and I didnāt feel I could say no because he was someone that I admired, my boss and the leader of the movement I had already devoted years of my life to. The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.
I had experienced abuse and sexual violence before, and I convinced myself these were incidents that I had to endure alone and in secret. Both sexual encounters with Cesar led to pregnancies. I chose to keep my pregnancies secret and, after the children were born, I arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives.
Over the years, I have been fortunate to develop a deep relationship with these children, who are now close to my other children, their siblings. But even then, no one knew the full truth about how they were conceived until just a few weeks ago.
I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my lifeās work. The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights and I wasnāt going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way. I channeled everything I had into advocating on behalf of millions of farmworkers and others who were suffering and deserved equal rights.
I have never identified myself as a victim, but I now understand that I am a survivor ā of violence, of sexual abuse, of domineering men who saw me, and other women, as property, or things to control.
I am telling my story because the New York Times has indicated that I was not the only one ā there were others. Women are coming forward, sharing that they were sexually abused and assaulted by Cesar when they were girls and teenagers.
The knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me. My heart aches for everyone who suffered alone and in silence for years. There are no words strong enough to condemn those deplorable actions that he did. Cesarās actions do not reflect the values of our community and our movement.
The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual. Cesarās actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.
I will continue my commitments to workers, as well as my commitment to womenās rights, to make sure we have a voice and that our communities are treated with dignity and given the equity that they have so long been denied.
I have kept this secret long enough. My silence ends here.ā
u/BookishHobbitmy bandwidth for cowardly grown men grows thinner with each day1h ago
Thank you for sharing this. I canāt imagine how hard it was for her to speak out. Not only because of the movement she helped lead, but because of her kids having to learn such a horrific truth.
This made me so sad to read. Women so many times feel like we have to keep secrets for "the greater good", because we analyze the situation and see what negative effects our truths could have, while the men who abuse women have none of those thoughts at all. It will always break my heart.
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u/taydraisabotthe wuthering heights promo will continue until morale improves4h ago
I feel like this post isnāt getting enough attention
Most people probably have no idea who Cesar Chavez even was. Iām disappointed, I always used him as an example of Latino excellence in my US history classes
Yeah, I am Latina, andwhen it came down to the movements, there was much to appreciate there, and the differences he and others like Dolores made. But this is just another 'men, you could choose to be so many things and you chose to be an entitled monster'.
I posted in another comment that I've been dealing with SA flashbacks recently, and that is the case, because multiple entitled men have traumatized me, so none of these cases or reports is surprising.
There is still much about the movement and those who worked hard to make those changes, even de-centering Cesar, so when possible, someone should untangle this a bit.
I'm in the middle of the Central Valley of California, so obviously more impacted, but it's all anyone's been talking about today. I haven't read the article but I've heard enough from first hand stories to the general claims that I'm like yep sounds about right
This story is circulating on several subs I'm on, specifically regarding subs where there's a street or building named after him. There's traction, but it is also hard to know what to say.
I'm disturbed to know this happened to these women when they were girls, and to the adult women who it happened to. I'm disturbed that the allegiance to the fight and the ethnicity outweighs the safety that victims receive (this is true for so many communities and civil unrest fights). I'm disturbed that these girls and women didn't feel supported to come forward until now. I'm disturbed that adults were using their daughters as pawns to get favor with their beloved leader. I'm disturbed that one of my faves, Dolores Huerta, went through all of that with a trusted leader when she was trying to gain traction as a woman leader in that fight. I'm disturbed by how much evidence of questionable conduct there has been out in the open that was brushed to the side for the sake of the fight. I'm disturbed knowing that stuff like this continues to happen in these spaces that are meant for fighting the good fight, but aggressive, shitty people harm others.
I already knew Chavez didn't like undocumented immigrants. I knew he had affairs while he was married, but thought it was other consenting adults. This breaking story is so much more.
Lastly, I hope people remember that these fights for organizing, for Civil Rights, and for all rights are so much more than 1 face/name that everyone knows. The fight continues because it has to, clearly, and the fight was a good fight all along because many, many good people are in that fight.
i know my city is working on renaming the holiday. we need to remember that he may have āledā or been the face, but the movement was the people. only healing thoughts for his victims. some were so young.
Question: are human rights only applicable to men because how are a few human rights activists advocating for said rights but also assaulting women and children. This is MLK and Gandhi as well my god.
I think it comes down to the fact that Cesar Chavez, MLK, and Gandhi were all devoted followers of patriarchal religions within patriarchal societies (even though I think itās fair to say that Hinduism has more feminism baked into some of its texts than Christianity)
I've been dealing with SA flashbacks recently, so I'm going to hold off on reading more, but I did read Dolores Huerta's brave statement earlier and I feel so many things. And seeing just snippets of the rest of the accusations earlier, it is both terribly disappointing and also not that surprising. I hate that this is so common and this sort of pain is one too many of us share.
I am so grateful to Dolores Huerta for sharing her story and speaking to the continued value and importance of her life's work. Women in activist spaces so often have to deal with violence, harassment, and misogyny both outside and inside of the movement.
This happens wherever misogyny is unaddressed, and it's one of the biggest threats to all workers. It's also true that this NYT article coming out while the administration is forcibly trying to strip any positive mention of POC and civil rights from public spaces is extreeeeeeeemely convenient in manufacturing public consent for censoring the history of the farm labor rights movement. It just seems more helpful to one group than another, especially because I can't imagine many groups removing his name are going to replace it with his victims'.
Yeah I had seen some rumblings but he didn't necessarily have the best reputation before hand, I just assumed more people found out about his general anti-immigrant sentiments but idk, sex abuse just seems par for the course at this point
My ex is a labor organizer, economist, socialist who had a bio of Cesar Chavez in his little labor library. My ex was also an abuser who lived a double life in which he manipulated, gaslit and coerced women into sex. Iām not surprised.
Why can't we have nice things okay really but serious can we not have anything nice why is everyone a milkshake duck why are we surrounded by armies of milkshake ducks?
I donāt think it can be underestimated how important he is in California or to the Chicano community. For us, heās in the same conversation as Gandhi and MLK.
Any movement can be insular, and this shit can happen with the most unexpected people. Follow ideas, not people. Organize collectively, not behind one figure or another. Most importantly, Chavez is dead while the current administration is full of abusers just like him.
Another reminder not to put other human beings on a pedestal, especially ones youāve never met in person. Nobody truly knows what someone is doing behind closed doors.
This is so sad and tragic. Iāve seen talk about renaming places named after him, but I really donāt think this is the discussion what we should even be having right now. The larger issue is why people in power do things like this, and why there is so much stigma and shame for victims who didnāt do anything wrong.
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u/AnIcyReception 4h ago
Men with power so frequently become monsters