I Need to Talk About César Chávez

I need to talk about César Chávez. But I don’t know what to say. It’s not writer’s block; it’s writer’s recognition. I typically start with a question, add an observation and a hypothesis with some data — a soliloquy, if you will. This week I realize it’s a conversation.

In the last few weeks, there has been a rapid response to allegations of sexual abuse by Mr. Chávez which has led to efforts to remove his name from streets, venues, and celebrations. That’s not a solution, it’s a reaction.

Thomas Jefferson was in his 40s when the sexual abuse of Sally Hemings, a girl who was 13 started. It was not a love story. Yet we don’t take Jefferson’s name off the Declaration of Independence, the nickel, or the two-dollar bill. Einstein subjected his first wife to cruelty and humiliation and went onto marry his first cousin, and yet it is still Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Richard Nixon beat his wife — oh, don’t act surprised; I reckon the Watergate thing superseded that information.

Men will say things like “she’s barely legal” or “she’s not legal yet.” What about “she is too young?” On the TV show Punk’d, Ashton Kutcher referred to Hilary Duff who was 15 at the time and the Olsen twins who were 17 as “…the girls that we’re all waiting for to turn 18,” There in lies the problem. Waiting for someone to become legal? Ashton, you’re a 25-year-old man — why are you salivating over a 15-year-old, waiting for her to become legal? Oh, I forgot — 24-year-old Elvis Presley met a 14-year-old Priscilla and “waited.”

Society leans towards men’s predatory behavior towards women. Currently in the US, the lowest age of consent is 16. Nigeria has 11 as the age of consent, the age of consent is 12 in the Philippines and Japan recently raised the age of consent from 13 to 16. Nations raised the age of consent from 10–12 to 16–18 to “protect minors from exploitation.” Was that effective or are men in a “waiting game.”

César Chávez. started grooming girls as early as 8, with rape occurring once the girl was over 13. The majority of victims were the daughters of those who worked with him or volunteers for the movement. Of course other people knew. They encouraged the victims to stay quiet as not to discredit Chávez. and the farmworker movement.

There is a false terminology of “bystander” around harassment and abuse, especially when other men are involved. To the men, I say, the perpetrator knows they can do whatever they want in front of you and you won’t do anything — for whatever reason. So you are victims too. Until we put it in those terms, men give themselves absolution. I don’t have the emotional capacity to go through the examples I experienced at IBM. Go back — it’s documented in other posts. But men report, “I didn’t know what to do, … well, that’s his business…I work for the man…” That does not make me feel better about what happened. The NCAA basketball coach who had two daughters my age and knew what was happening and just laughed it off. Well guess who wasn’t laughing then and who is not amused now. Me.

“Two things can be true,” is used in a trite manner many times and to avoid an in-depth discussion, In this case, two things are true, César Chávez. sexually abused women and César Chávez, an American Citizen, gained significant rights for migrant farm workers which cumulated in the 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act and landmark union contracts.

Did the reaction to César Chávez happen swiftly because he was of Mexican descent? He was an American, born in America. Was he a scape goat or made an example of ? Someone said to me, well he was Mexican and that’s the macho culture. No, he’s was an American of Mexican heritage and when did “culture” make rape right?

There is a difference between a reaction and a solution. For César Chávez, two things are true, he did have a major influence in the US for good and a significant impact on women for bad. Now what is the solution? Yet at other times, why do we normalize predatory behavior to create a fictionalized version of what a hero is?

Love him or hate him, the current President’s has issues in this area. How will he be denoted in history with a 34 count felony conviction of falsifying business records to give hush money to a porn star?

This is like an intelligence test where you get the same question posed several ways. We need to talk about César Chávez because taking his name off a street sign is a reaction not a solution.