San Diego leaders react to Cesar Chavez allegations
SAN DIEGO (NBC, KYMA) - San Diego leaders are weighing how to move forward after civil right leader Cesar Chavez was accused by his former colleague and co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW) of America union Dolores Huerta of sexually assaulting her twice.
Historians and political strategists say this is a moment for truth and self reflection and a time to refocus on the movement and not a cult of personality.
From Cesar Chavez's statue being covered up in Fresno State University to the San Diego Community College District considering renaming its Barrio Logan Campus, which is named after him.
The bloom is off the once revered labor leader after his partner in the farmers' movement and fellow civil rights icon accused him of sexually assaulting her twice.
"We believe the accusers. We believe Dolores Huerta," said Roberto Hernandez, Ph.D., Chicano Studies Professor at San Diego State University.
Hernandez says the allegation Chavez supposedly groomed and abused girls who worked in his labor movement is a real life lesson of why he teaches what he does in his Chicano Studies courses.
"We shouldn't make icons out of people, but rather that movements are made by rank and file, movement are made by the people, and then leaders emerge," Hernandez remarked.
Chavez became a civil rights icon, leading the fight for farmers' rights and co-founding the UWF with Huerta.
While no longer at its peak powers, the UWF still holds some political sway.
"What I am seeing is kind of the tearing down of statues, the realization that a history was not, it wasn't complete," said Mike Madrid, a political strategist and author of "The Latino Century."
Madrid says this is a moment to help the labor movement by exalting the people instead of one person.
"This cult of personality that was built never served, I think, the broader movement well, and if there's going to be a future for this type of social movement, it can't be it can't be identified exclusively with one person," Madrid expressed.
Chavez's impact on the farming community, illustrated in this mural at Chicano Park, a Navy ship, a Barrio Logan street and nearby park, all bear his name, and while it's hard to watch a hero fall, Madrid and others say, the time is now to embrace truth, no matter how painful.
"It's never the wrong time to do the right thing, and the right thing was now, and I hope that this brings some peace and some closure to some people who have suffered mightily over many, many decades," Madrid explained.
Several Cesar Chavez Day activities in some parts of the country, including San Luis, have been canceled in light of the allegations.
However, the City of Brawley says their annual Cesar Chavez Day celebration will remain as scheduled, but it will shift the focus away from Chavez and direct the attention toward farmworkers in Imperial County.
