{"id":536770,"date":"2026-03-21T13:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T13:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/536770\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T13:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T13:31:13","slug":"dolores-huertas-civil-rights-legacy-was-inextricably-linked-with-cesar-chavez-then-she-accused-him-of-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/536770\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores Huerta\u2019s civil rights legacy was inextricably linked with Cesar Chavez. Then she accused him of abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Days before The New York Times<\/a> published bombshell allegations of sexual abuse that would upend the legacy of famed labor rights leader Cesar Chavez<\/a>, Delia Garcia answered a phone call from her longtime friend, Dolores Huerta.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cShe said, \u2018Let\u2019s have a conversation, and I need you to be sitting down,\u2019\u201d Garcia told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then Huerta \u2013 who cofounded the famed United Farm Workers union with Chavez and served as his right hand for decades in their fight to secure labor rights for farmworkers \u2013 revealed a secret that she\u2019d been holding onto for about 60 years.\n <\/p>\n

\n Garcia said the 95-year-old recounted two times when, she said, Chavez sexually assaulted her.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhere she began to cry was when she was talking about the victims, and not herself,\u201d Garcia said, referencing the two other women who alleged in the Times investigation that Chavez groomed and assaulted them when they were minors.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn this moment, where she\u2019s sharing something so raw, she\u2019s in that moment caring about others.\u201d That, she added, shows the character of Dolores Huerta.\n <\/p>\n

\n The allegations against Chavez have cast a pall over his legacy<\/a>, and the fallout has been swift. But the revelations have also brought renewed focus on Huerta, a woman who helped Chavez lead a national movement that upended the status quo for labor rights and whose contributions were at times overshadowed by a man who she alleges was her abuser.\n <\/p>\n

\n Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told CNN he grew up idolizing both Chavez and Huerta for their tireless work on behalf of the Latino community.\n <\/p>\n

\n Villaraigosa \u2013 who is campaigning to be the next governor of California \u2013 said over the years he\u2019s developed a personal relationship with both civil rights leaders, which made Huerta\u2019s allegations against Chavez even more painful.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve always known that (Huerta) has the heart of a lion. From the earliest days, you just saw the fire in this woman and the courage. So, I\u2019m not surprised that she\u2019s come forward this way,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a statement<\/a> published after the release of the Times investigation, Huerta said for decades she convinced herself the sexual assaults were incidents she had to \u201cendure alone and in secret.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI have kept this secret long enough,\u201d she added, \u201cMy silence ends here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"United<\/p>\n

\n Dolores Clara Fernandez was born April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico. After her parents divorced, Huerta and her siblings were raised by their mother, Alicia, who was a businesswoman and an active member of their diverse, agricultural community.\n <\/p>\n

\n After high school, Huerta attended college and graduated with a teaching certification.\n <\/p>\n

\n But, as she explains in the eponymous 2018 documentary, \u201cDolores<\/a>,\u201d she always felt called to fight for something greater than herself.\n <\/p>\n

\n Despite marrying young and starting her family, Huerta began working with the Community Service Organization, a grassroots group that fought to better the lives of Latinos across California. She quickly climbed the ranks to become the organization\u2019s political director.\n <\/p>\n

\n And that\u2019s where she met Cesar Chavez.\n <\/p>\n

\n Both Chavez and Huerta were working with the CSO on separate projects to organize the state\u2019s farmworkers. But when they approached the group\u2019s founder, Fred Ross, about supporting their efforts to start a union, he declined.\n <\/p>\n

\n The decision would prove to be pivotal.\n <\/p>\n

\n Huerta would later recall how Chavez proposed they join forces to start their own union.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe put it this way, he said, \u2018Unless you and I do it, it\u2019s never going to happen,\u2019\u201d she recalls in the documentary.\n <\/p>\n

\n But, she added, Chavez also acknowledged they faced an uphill battle because \u201cthe growers are too rich, they\u2019re too powerful, and they\u2019re too racist.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Undeterred, in 1962 Chavez and Huerta launched the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers union.\n <\/p>\n

\"Dolores<\/p>\n

\n The 1960s were marked by social and cultural upheaval in the United States. The Civil Rights Movement ignited the South; a feminist movement bloomed in New York, and in California, the UFW led a movement to secure higher wages, and safer working conditions for farmworkers.\n <\/p>\n

\n At the time, agriculture workers were specifically excluded from federal protections that guaranteed the right to organize; and yet they toiled under some of the harshest working conditions in the country. Farmworkers were often exposed to deadly pesticides<\/a> in the fields \u2013 which led to illness and death \u2013 and they were among the lowest-paid workers in the United States. In 1962, the year the UFW was founded, the average farmworker earned $0.93 per hour.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAfter I had seen the miserable conditions of farmworkers and knowing how to organize people \u2026 I just felt that that\u2019s what I needed to do,\u201d Huerta recalled in the documentary. \u201cIt was just a calling.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In 1966, the union launched an international consumer boycott of grapes in protest of the workers\u2019 conditions. The boycott often pitted farmworkers against agricultural business leaders and the US government. It would last four years, with union members and supporters picketing outside grocery stores and urging restaurants not to carry products that were not union grown.\n <\/p>\n

\n In March of that year, Chavez began a 300-mile march from Delano, California, to the state capital of Sacramento. As he marched, Huerta helped negotiate with the industry leaders.\n <\/p>\n

\"United<\/p>\n

\n \u201cShe was given more power in a male-dominated union than any other women probably ever had in history,\u201d said Randy Shaw, author of \u201cBeyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century<\/a>.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen (UFW) really wanted to irritate the growers, they\u2019d send Dolores into negotiations,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was a very aggressive negotiator. \u2026 It\u2019s one thing if the male lawyers for the farmworkers took a hard line \u2013 that was expected \u2013 but a woman wasn\u2019t supposed to be in that position.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Days before they reached the capital, Shaw said the union secured its first major victory<\/a> when Schenley Industries recognized the union and agreed to provide its farmworkers with better conditions and wages.\n <\/p>\n

\n The landmark agreement was the first union contract between farmworkers and growers, Shaw said.\n <\/p>\n

\n And yet, tragically, as Huerta revealed<\/a> to The New York Times, in 1966 \u2013 at the height of the UFW\u2019s boycott \u2013 she alleged Chavez drove her to a secluded grape field in Delano, California, and raped her.\n <\/p>\n

\n Huerta told the Times<\/a> she didn\u2019t report the attack \u2013 or a previous incident in 1960 where she said C\ufeffhavez pressured her into having sex with him during a work trip \u2013 because of police attitudes toward their movement, and because she feared no one in their union would believe her.\n <\/p>\n

\n Shaw called the revelation an appalling and cruel irony.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cCesar Chavez is doing these terrible things to women and yet he empowered women organizers when they really didn\u2019t have much opportunity,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\"Sen.<\/p>\n

\n On June 5, 1968, Huerta stood beside Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in a ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles as he thanked California voters and farmworkers for their support of his presidential campaign.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI want to thank \u2026 Dolores Huerta who is an old friend of mine and has worked with the union,\u201d Kennedy said<\/a>, \u201cwe thank her and tell her how much I appreciate her coming tonight.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kennedy had been among the most prominent supporters of the UFW and the farmworker\u2019s movement. In 1966, he traveled to California during the grape boycott and held a Senate hearing where he sparred with local law<\/a> enforcement who were arresting picketers for demonstrating.\n <\/p>\n

\n In February 1968, Chavez began fasting in protest of the farmworkers\u2019 conditions \u2013 a move that garnered national media attention. After nearly 25 days of fasting, Kennedy sat beside Chavez as he symbolically broke his fast with bread.\n <\/p>\n

\n Shaw said Kennedy\u2019s support of the farmworker\u2019s movement helped propel his presidential campaign to victory in the California primary later that year.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe farmworker voter outreach strategy \u2013 of knocking on doors, engaging in communication with people \u2013 that was unprecedented when it happened in \u201868,\u201d he said, adding the UFW\u2019s strategy became a model of voter outreach that is still used today.\n <\/p>\n

\n As he thanked his supporters that night at the Ambassador Hotel, Kennedy promised to continue to fight for their rights as Huerta smiled beside him.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have certain obligations and responsibilities to our fellow citizens, which we talked about during the course of this campaign, and I want to make it clear if I am elected president of the United States with your help, I intend to keep them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kennedy left the podium and moments later, as he made his way through the hotel\u2019s crowded kitchen, he was assassinated.\n <\/p>\n

\"United<\/p>\n

\n In the years that followed, Huerta and the UFW continued to negotiate contracts on behalf of farmworkers to secure better wages and benefits. The union also took up the battle against pesticides, often negotiating limiting their use into union contracts.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 1972, after years of pressure from the UFW and environmental groups, Congress enacted a federal ban on the pesticide DDT.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Shaw said the union achieved its most significant victory in 1975 when it successfully lobbied the state legislature to pass the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act.<\/a> The law, Shaw said, was the first of its kind in the country and it upended decades of precedent that prevented farmworkers from formally organizing by enabling them to elect their own union representatives.\n <\/p>\n

\n Huerta continued to organize and protest for equal rights, and she also began to expand her advocacy to other issues, like women\u2019s liberation. At demonstrations, Huerta would often lead animated chants of what would become her signature rallying cry, \u201cS\u00ed se puede!\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In her documentary, Huerta explained she originally began using the phrase when anyone would cast doubt on what the UFW could achieve.\n <\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

\n The chant would later become the rallying cry for another changemaker \u2013 Barack Obama. In 2012, then-President Obama presented Huerta with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and thanked her for allowing him to use her slogan.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cDolores was very gracious when I told her I had stolen her slogan, \u2018S\u00ed se puede,\u2019 Yes, we can,\u201d Obama said, \u201cKnowing her, I\u2019m pleased that she let me off easy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Over the decades, Shaw said, Huerta has never lost sight of her passion for advocating for the workers who form the backbone of our country.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI just saw Dolores a few weeks ago at an event at city hall,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cIt was for laborers trying to get higher pay for street cleaners. \u2026 She\u2019s 95 years old \u2026 and she\u2019s still speaking out for street cleaners.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Villaraigosa acknowledged the allegations against Chavez complicate and denigrate his legacy as both a civil rights leader and a man. And, he said, he agrees with efforts across the country to remove or rename monuments in Chavez\u2019s honor<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\"Facilities<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen you look at the lives of great men and women, we oftentimes put them on a pedestal and make them saintlike,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of us are flawed human beings. But this flaw \u2026 is beyond the pale.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And unlike those who have criticized Huerta for staying silent for so long, Villaraigosa said he can understand her decision.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI had a mom like that who suffered a bad marriage to keep her family together,\u201d he said. \u201cI understand what Dolores did in her eyes to protect the movement.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And, he said, he is in awe of the fact that she didn\u2019t let the actions of one man dim her spirit.\n <\/p>\n

\"Dolores<\/p>\n

\"Huerta<\/p>\n

\n \u201cHers was this fiery \u2018S\u00ed se puede!\u2019 Whenever you were on a picket line with her, she was as loud as anyone,\u201d Villaraigosa said. \u201cI\u2019m just proud of her courage, but I\u2019m not surprised.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Chavez\u2019s family told The New York Times they are \u201cnot in a position to judge\u201d the newly revealed allegations against him.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAs a family steeped in the values of equity and justice, we honor the voices of those who feel unheard and who report sexual misconduct,\u201d the family said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n

\n When asked about the impact the recent revelations would have on Chavez\u2019s legacy, Huerta told ABC News<\/a> it was not for her \u2013 or the other victims \u2013 to say.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think we leave that up to \u2026 in God\u2019s hands,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was a great leader but unfortunately he had an evil side to him \u2013 it is evil.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Days before The New York Times published bombshell allegations of sexual abuse that would upend the legacy of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-536770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}