IN CESAR CHAVEZ'S CASE, WE CAN'T BE SELECTIVE IN OUR OUTRAGE

By Juan Montoya

The rage and controversy surroundings the disclosures that Cesar Chavez – the leader and founder of the United Farm Workers Union – who died 33 years ago,  groomed and sexually abused women in the movement came as a shock and a huge disappointment to his followers and admirers.

Suddenly, those of us who looked up to him and supported his movement to give migrants and farm workers a decent wage and improved conditions in the fields are confronted with a growing body of evidence that our idol had feet of clay. That he was a flawed human being. 

And no one argues that if these allegations are true, it is reprehensible and unacceptable behavior and should have never been permitted.

There are now calls to remove his name from streets, buildings,  to cancel the national holiday bearing his name, and to cancel events celebrating his accomplishments to give farm workers better wages, protections, and working conditions.

But let's take a proportional perspective of this. Many of our founding fathers and other people who are enshrined in our culture also had their flaws, and over time, their shortcomings have been eclipsed by the worth of their accomplishments. 

For example, many have pointed out that George Washington, our first president, had slaves that remained slaves after he died. In fact, when a female domestic servant fled to the Northeast, he sent a slave catcher to retrieve his "property."

And Thomas Jefferson was not only a slave holder like Washington and other founding fathers, but also owned a female slave named Sally Hemings who served as a nursemaid and companion to his daughters. Beginning in Paris, they began a long-term sexual relationship lasting nearly four decades, resulting in six children. DNA evidence and historical analysis confirm Jefferson fathered these children. Is there any question that Jefferson was in a position of power over this slave woman and abused it to dominate a vulnerable human being?

And Martin Luther King, who dedicated his life to bettering the lot of African Americans in this country, was spied on by Edgar Hoover's FBI and recorded having extra-marital affairs with women in the movement to the point that they threatened him with blackmail to abandon his struggle and even suggested that he commit suicide.

JFK, another hero to the Mexican American population, was known for this philandering ways and rumors existed that he even had a fling with Marylin Monroe. 

Bill Clinton, more recently, was discovered to have consorted with White House intern Monica Lewinsky between 1995 and 1997 and later admitted to "inappropriate intimate contact," leading to his impeachment by the House for perjury and obstruction of justice, though he was acquitted by the Senate

And need we point out that our current president is a 34-times convicted felon, a grifter, and has been closely linked to Jeffrey Epstein who ran a pedophile and international call girl ring. What else is there in the grotesque covered-up Epstein files?

Should their names be erased from our national conscience? And should all the buildings, streets, monuments, and holidays, and city names associated with them also be removed? One can't be selective in our outrage at the revelations about Chavez. What's good for the goose, should be good for the gander.

I have sisters and daughters, and nieces and am revolted at the thought of someone abusing them, no matter who they are. But if we are going to be outraged at what Chavez is said to have done, shouldn't the same measure be applied to all the others? 

We can't be selective in our outrage, but it should make us as a nation even more determined to stamp out this plague of criminal behavior and sexual abuse. And the UFW should think of instituting some sort of reparations to the victims or their families if they are still with us.

As a former migrant farm worker, I personally saw the improved working conditions brought about by Chavez and the UFW. Simple things like having drinking water and sanitary facilities in the fields, promoting education for migrant kids, living wages, and forcing corporations to shoulder up to their responsibilities for using pesticides in our food, are noteworthy accomplishments that benefitted many poor workers and the country as a whole. We're a better nation for it.

The Founding Fathers, MLK, JFK and Chavez – for all their human frailties – enriched our culture and improved the lives of many people in this nation. Let's have a proportional perspective on their crimes and misdeeds and pledge ourselves to eradicating this type of behavior making it clear that it's indefensible while recognizing their contributions.