Yes, victims of child abuse often wait a long time to come forward, especially if their abuser was an authority figure.
There’s genetic proof that two of Huerta’s children are his.
While Mr. Chavez had eight children with his wife, Helen Chavez, the Times investigation showed that he also fathered at least four children with three other women. Two of these children and other family members were interviewed and confirmed the relationship. Additionally, 23andMe match results were reviewed for the four children, and they confirmed Mr. Chavez’s biological ties in each case.
Two of the children were the result of his two sexual encounters with Ms. Huerta, she told The Times, including the assault she described in 1966. Ms. Huerta said she concealed the pregnancies by wearing baggy clothes and ponchos, had the baby girls and then arranged for them to be raised by others.
He’s dead. You can’t put a skeleton on trial. The New York Times is about as authoritative of an investigation that’s going to happen.
When I went there another way it was paywalled, I see now it was a gift link. So, we do have names. And it seems like the Time might have that evidence.
Our school district has two middle schools. One is named for Larry Itliong. The other, the one my son went to, is named for Cesar Chavez. I don’t know what’s going to happen, the district hasn’t made any announcements yet.
On the issue of places named for Chavez: if authorities decide to change the names of those places, I hope they don’t go for a different person’s name, even if it’s another farm worker’s union leader or someone like that. I think this experience once again points out the folly of naming public institutions and places for individuals, because of how often they show up with feet of clay. I’m not sure what good alternatives are, but I think they should be explored.
But that is something we carry over from how for centuries we’ve used “Great Man History” and celebration of heroes and canonized saints as something you do as a matter of course because just teaching values/ideologies in the abstract is too, well, abstract. Holding up an icon to be venerated or pointing to an exemplar to be imitated is more relatable. People want to rally behind a leader with a face and a voice, or behind her/his memory.
We live however in a world where EVERYTHING is exposed and everyone feels entitled to judge. We do need to settle on just how will we adjust to that.
I’m impressed with how no one is really defending him including his family and the organization that he founded. My city of Santa Barbara already has a motion in the City Council to change back the name of Calle Caesar Chavez.
I kind of agree, but I also think it’s important to replace his name with something that still honors Latino workers. The renaming of the streets for Chavez in San Francisco and Portland was a big deal for the community, it would suck to completely take that away,
Why not just name the Plazas, streets, schools, etc., after the organizations instead of individual leaders? Not reducing the importance of good leadership and standout individuals, but change takes an entire organizational effort. UFW Plaza, SNCC Elementary, and La Raza Day sound perfectly fine to me.
I agree. Oscar Gutierrez is leading the charge but no word on if it’s just going back to S. Salsipuedes or something else. They are talking about Caesar Chavez Day being renamed Farm Worker’s Day.
On a related note, I once read that high-profile heroes for a particular cause (like Chavez, or directors of do-good nonprofits, etc.) can be mentally susceptible to misdeeds or predatory behavior because of one of two mindsets, either a sort of mental tally of “I’ve done so much good for the world that I’m allowed to do some bad, too,” or an attitude of “I’m genuinely a good guy, everyone thinks I’m a hero, therefore even the bad things I do are actually good things.”
I’m sure everyone who does shitty things comes up with some rationale to allow them to sleep at night. I don’t think I accept that people who do good things are any more “mentally susceptible of misdeeds” than the rest of us.
It’s one thing to say that famous and powerful men are often able to command female attention in whatever way they want, and the men are not always strong enough to behave with integrity. It’s skeevy, but if it’s consensual, whatever.
But when we’re talking about minors or non-consensual encounters, obviously that’s not something that can get any kind of pass. Having groupies is one thing, raping them is a whole other ballgame (a criminal assault ballgame).
“Sal si puedes” is Spanish for “leave if you can” so named because it used to be along a marsh and would regularly flood. It’s in kind of an industrial zone now and the rescue mission is there. It’s one of the places where day laborers line up or did before the ICE raids.