The author is a Chicano activist from Northern California
This is extremely disturbing news. I was one of those young Chicano kids who was honored to meet Ms. Dolores Huerta in school. We were raised to stand for Mexican people. To us, the UFW and Cesar Chavez represented a historic stand for dignity, and justice for Mexican people in a white supremacist society.
Now, as an adult, I feel deep anger—but sadly I can’t say I’m shocked. I’ve come to understand that in a class society like ours, women are routinely and systematically subjected to abuse and subjugation. That’s why I became a socialist.
I stand firmly with Ms. Dolores Huerta, Ms. Ana Murguia, Ms. Debra Rojas, and any woman who suffered abuse. Their dignity and truth must come first.
It is essential that the women who were harmed, along with those who were part of and shaped by the farmworker struggle, have the space to deliberate and speak on the questions of Chavez’s guilt and legacy.
A Latina and Chicana-led commission of trusted community leaders should be formed to take up broader questions, including decisions about renaming streets, holidays, and schools. These decisions should not be left to politicians. That commission should also be empowered to re-examine the aims and ideology of our movement and help clarify the direction forward.
These allegations are deeply unsettling and they force us to confront broader contradictions, including ideological, within our movement. If we are serious about liberation, we must be willing to critically reassess in order to strengthen our struggle today.
In my view, we must build a united front of Mexican and Chicano people in the United States who are ready to fight for our collective liberation under a clear program:
- Immediate and full legalization of all Mexican immigrants and immigrants from all countries in the United States under civil and criminal law
- Full and equal protection against discrimination in all areas of life—housing, education, healthcare, labor, policing, etc.
- Immediate recognition and enforcement of all land grants and other rights promised under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which have long been violated
A program like this, and a united front rooted in it, is more necessary now than ever. This is the spirit that animated the farmworker struggle, and it is what we must rebuild and carry forward today.
We actually have a unique opportunity at this time. A little over one month ago we saw a general strike in Minneapolis and hundreds of thousands of people across the country stood with immigrant people against racist ICE terror. Here in Atlanta over 100 High Schools had walkouts against the racist Trump administration and young people of every color and gender carried flags of Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and every proud nation which stood with us. Our movement is not getting weaker, we are getting stronger and more united.
