Just a few weeks ago, I heard Dolores Huerta speak at the “Together for Democracy” conference in Washington, D.C. At nearly 96 years of age, she brought the crowd to their feet with chants and singing that raised the roof.
That’s why yesterday I was stunned in disbelief to read her statement about the sexual abuse she endured from Cesar Chavez, a legendary figure in the workers’ rights movement in the 20th century. I read the news while on an airplane and thus couldn’t scream out like I wanted to.
Dolores Huerta, Labor Leader, Civil Rights Activist, and Co-Founder of United Farm Workers speaks onstage during Together For Democracy January 29 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Democracy Forward)
For 60 years, she said, she has kept a secret “because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for.”
But now that The New York Times has published a massive investigation into grotesque sexual misconduct by Chavez, she no longer could stay silent, she said.
Not only was she assaulted by Chavez, but those assaults resulted in two 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,” she said. “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.”
Until now, Huerta never considered herself a victim or a survivor — “of violence, of sexual abuse, of domineering men who saw me, and other women, as property or things to control.”
“I have kept this secret long enough,” she said. “My silence ends here.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks alongside former President Donald Trump during a tour to an unfinished section of the border wall on June 30, 2021, in Pharr, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Almost the next thing I read was a statement from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declaring the Lone Star State no longer will observe Cesar Chavez Day, which typically falls at the end of this month.
“Reports of the horrific and widely acknowledged sexual assault allegations against Cesar Chavez rightfully dismantle the myth of this progressive hero and undermine the narrative that elevated Chavez as a figure worthy of official state celebration,” Abbott said.
OK, now where’s Abbott’s statement on Donald Trump?
Let me remind you that 69 women have alleged they were sexually assaulted by Trump, who has bragged on camera about groping women by the genitals. Trump has been convicted in court of defamation related to sexual misconduct. He is named repeatedly in the Epstein Files, which his Justice Department has worked overtime to hide. He’s a creepy old man who practically kissed Erika Kirk on the lips at her husband’s memorial service.
Dear Gov. Abbott, you are right to cancel Cesar Chavez, so why do you refuse to acknowledge that Trump is a sexual predator as well? The only possible answer is hypocrisy, which is the calling card of MAGA faith.
Chavez, of course, was a champion of workers’ rights — a Democratic talking point hated by Republicans. Thus, it is politically expedient for Abbott and other Republicans to pounce on Chavez’s legacy and memory. But it is not politically expedient for them to pounce on Trump’s legacy of sexual abuse and assault.
How many times must we scream this truth: Believing women (and men) who report sexual abuse and assault cannot be a partisan issue. It remains a moral issue, however.
And any politician or preacher who speaks out against Chavez but not Trump is morally bankrupt. It’s time to end the silence.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves.
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