Earl Ofari Hutchinson
The news hit like a bombshell that labor and civil rights icon Cesar Chavez had a hideous hidden life. The allegations are that he is a sexual abuser, rapist, and child molester. The allegations are bolstered by documents, statements, testimony from the alleged victims and a confessional statement from his long-time companion and key United Farmworkers Union organizer Dolores Huerta.
This seems irrefutable proof that Chavez was the horrid guy his charged actions mark him to be. That in turn has stirred volumes of recriminations, shouts of betrayal, and sadness that a long standing honorable and treasured, social change consequential legacy is seemingly flushed down the drain.
Nowhere has this been more tormenting for many than in the torrential rush by cities and counties to wipe Chavez’s name off every public space–streets, schools, parks, and other public and private spaces. My first inclination is that this is a knee-jerk speed warp rush at Chavez’s erasure.
He was long dead. He could not defend himself against the allegations. And despite the seemingly overwhelming case that he was indeed a bad guy; a case could be made that some of the allegations were one sided and could not be independently verified. That hasn’t’ stopped the rush to erasure though.
My second inclination was to call for putting pause to the Chavez disappearing act The reason. The heinous allegations, possibly acts, did not cancel out the towering contribution he made to labor and civil rights advances among the poorest, most abused, most exploited workers in the country, the farm workers. That’s a proud legacy that can’t nor should be erased.
However, now what’s not my inclination, but a necessity, is to say that we can honor his legacy of struggle and contributions without honoring him. Removing Chavez’s name from public spaces is the only way to do that. As long as his name remains on a street, a school, a park, the conversation will always be about his alleged vile sexual abuses. That will obscure, detract, and deflect from what should be the focus. That’s that Chavez and the farm workers transformed, uplifted, and cast a new face and dimension to the labor and civil rights movement in the country.
It’s simply too risky then to obscure or worse trash that history and legacy. Wherever Chavez’s name appears we’ll always hear “but yes he was a rapist and child molester” That will totally usurp any discussion of the importance then and now of the transformative labor and civil rights organizing he led and inspired.
It’s no contradiction to call for honoring what Chavez fought for and not him. Removing his name as an eternal flash point of controversy from streets, parks, and schools is sadly the only way that can be done.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is The Epstein “Distraction” (Amazon ebook and Middle Passage Press)
He hosts the weekly news and issues commentary radio show The Hutchinson Report Wednesdays 6 PM PST 9 PM EST at ktymgospel.net