Trigger warning: Mentions of sexual assault, violence against women.
The first message I read when I woke up this past Wednesday was from one of my coworkers. It read: “I am heartbroken. I may have to take some time off today to process,” and included a link to a website. The link took me to a statement from Dolores Huerta, one of the leaders of the famous California farmworker labor movement of the 1960s and 70s. In the statement, she recounted two encounters in which Cesar Chavez, co-leader of the movement, sexually assaulted her, and revealed that both encounters led to pregnancies which she carried to term and adopted out to other families.
This statement is especially disheartening when read in context of the other survivors, girls and teenagers, that have come forward with their stories as well in The New York Times investigation. I have been fortunate to meet Dolores Huerta in person several times at protests, local events and conferences. I have always looked up to her as a feminist, activist and leader. She has such a powerful presence that it fills the room when she speaks, and her words are some of the most passionate, wise and inspirational I’ve ever heard. Learning of the news, I was devastated and shocked; devastated completely, but perhaps not as shocked as some would think.
There have long been rumors of Chavez’s misogynistic tendencies, and though it is lesser known, Chavez took credit for much of the work done by Larry Itliong, a Filipino farmworker and labor leader who never got the praise that Chavez did and whose son spoke against Chavez in an ABC30 interview. However, the news is still devastating, especially to folks who looked up to Chavez as a hero and representation of the Chicano movement.
Huerta and other survivors’ accounts come at a time when the average American’s daily tragedy intake in the news and media is at an all-time high. Some have been critical of Huerta’s account, hoping to protect Chavez’s legacy. This is especially true for folks who were directly impacted by the farmworkers’ movement, and many are speaking up and suggesting the news is mere “political dirt” meant to take away from the movement, especially with the recent news of the H2A visa worker abuses under the Trump administration.
Although it is true that it is a critical time for H2 visa laborers and farmworkers who are being targeted by this administration and becoming subject to rampant and violent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, the rhetoric that this could “all be political dirt” severely undermines the testimony and courage of survivors like Huerta.
“For the last 60 years [I] have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,” she wrote in her statement.
Huerta is not an outsider in the movement, nor are the other women that came forward. She spent 60 years holding onto secret trauma and violence to protect the work she has dedicated her life to.
“I have never identified myself as a victim, but I now understand that I am a survivor – of violence, of sexual abuse, of domineering men who saw me, and other women, as property, or things to control,” she wrote.
To deny or question survivor testimonies in favor of political conditions and refuse to hold Chavez accountable for his actions is to belittle the trauma, abuse and violence these women went through.
Some, however, have taken swift action in light of the news. Fresno State’s statue of Chavez in the Peace Garden was covered up the day Huerta’s statement was released, the campus’ student newspaper, The Collegian, reported.
“Indeed, we must now honor that history [of the farmworker movement in the Central Valley] by acknowledging the harm done to the victims while we continue to highlight the immense value of the farmworkers whose hard work and sacrifice continue to feed our nation,” Fresno State president Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval wrote in his campus-wide statement, reported KMPH.
Holding abusers accountable for their actions and continuing the work of the farmworker movement are not mutually exclusive. Huerta’s legacy is not defined by this news, and although the same cannot be said for Chavez’s legacy, the work done to improve the rights of farmworkers and immigrants in the 60s and 70s cannot be undone or discredited. A movement is not fueled, nor carried out, by a single person, and the harm done by Chavez does not take away from the power of community resistance.
It is time to grieve, it is time to be angry and it is time to continue the fight and continue the work to ensure a just future for farmworkers, immigrants, women and all.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, the Dolores Huerta Foundation has curated a list of resources available to survivors. You are not alone, and your voice matters.
