Cesar Chavez, the Latino civil rights leader adored by Democratic politicians, accused of grooming and abusing young girls
Say it ain’t so. The Democratic Party lost another iconic figure to reputational disgrace this week as Cesar Chavez, the late union organizer and Latino civil rights leader, was exposed as a serial sex abuser. The New York Times on Wednesday published an investigation that “uncovered extensive evidence to support” the accusations of several women who said that Chavez groomed them as children before sexually abusing them as teenagers. Dolores Huerta, a longtime Chavez ally, revealed that she secretly had two of Chavez’s children after a series of nonconsensual encounters in the 1960s.
The Times report comes days after the United Farm Workers union abruptly canceled a number of Cesar Chavez Day celebrations set for later this month, citing “troubling but unspecified allegations,” according to the Associated Press. The Times also learned over the course of its investigation that some of Chavez’s relatives and former union leaders knew about the allegations “for years” but declined to take action. His accusers, meanwhile, said they were “discouraged from speaking out in order to preserve Mr. Chavez’s public image.”
Chavez joins a long list of once-revered Democratic figures to have their reputations tarnished by allegations of sexual misconduct. That includes politicians such as John F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Anthony Weiner, and Andrew Cuomo, as well as prominent Democratic donors such as Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Harvey Weinstein, and Ed Buck.
Democrats in recent years have enthusiastically embraced Chavez (while conveniently ignoring his opposition to illegal immigration). Canceling him will involve renaming a lot of public buildings, parks, and squares. Here’s a look at some of the Democratic lawmakers who celebrated Chavez as an icon of social justice while his victims suffered in silence.
Kamala Harris
Chavez’s granddaughter, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, worked in Harris’s U.S. Senate office before joining her failed primary campaign in 2020. She went on to work in the Biden administration and briefly managed the former president’s reelection campaign before being tapped to lead Harris’s failed campaign. Chavez Rodriguez was widely regarded as a token hire to placate Latino activists. Neither Biden nor Harris gave her any real power to make decisions.
Joe Biden
A bronze bust of Chavez sat behind the Resolute Desk on Biden’s first day in the Oval Office. He removed the bust of Winston Churchill that was prominently displayed throughout Donald Trump’s first term.
Hillary Clinton
The twice-failed presidential candidate committed one of her signatures gaffes in 2016 while she accepted the endorsement of Chavez’s United Farm Workers union. “‘Si se pueda’ [sic] is right!” she cackled in response to supporters chanting the labor leader’s catchphrase—”¡Sí, se puede! or “Yes, we can!”—which Obama had borrowed years earlier to defeat her in the Democratic primary. In 2014, longtime Clinton aide Karen Finney attended the Washington, D.C., premiere of Cesar Chavez, a biopic widely panned by critics as “trite hagiography.” The event was sponsored by Comcast Universal, Telemundo, and the Ford Foundation, among others.
Barack Obama
In addition to stealing Chavez’s catchphrase, Obama dedicated the Cesar Chavez National Monument in California several weeks before the 2012 election. “The movement [Chavez] helped to lead was sustained by a generation of organizers who stood up and spoke out, and urged others to do the same,” he said. “Our world is a better place because Cesar Chavez decided to change it. Let us honor his memory. But most importantly, let’s live up to his example.”
Bill Clinton
The former president awarded Chavez a posthumous medal of freedom in 1994. Clinton praised the union leader as a “Moses figure” who “led a very courageous life.”
The Kennedys
Chavez was a close ally of Robert F. Kennedy, who called him “one of the heroic figures of our time.” Somewhat ominously, Chavez also palled around with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.), a titan of sexual misadventure with at least one death to his name. The Kennedys’ niece, Maria Shriver, inducted Chavez into the California Hall of Fame in 2006.
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