Multiple rape allegations leveled against UFW legend Cesar Chavez

Get the Point!

Yesterday, the NY Times published a bombshell article chronicling its lengthy investigation into sexual assault and child rape allegations against Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers icon who died in 1993 at the age of 66.

Cesar Chavez circa ‘79

As one who grew up reading everything I could get my hands on about Dr. Martin Luther King, over time, my studies led me to have equal reverence for his loyal lieutenants and followers like Reverends Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, Joseph Lowery, Jesse Jackson, Fred Shuttlesworth, C.T. Vivian, and…Cesar Chavez.

If you nodded along with my above roll call of Civil Rights Movement legends up to Rev. Vivian, but paused when I ended with Cesar Chavez, don’t fret—popular culture doesn’t adequately herald the latter days of Dr. King’s life when he was transitioning from civil rights advocate to economic rights champion. Chavez’s role as the powerful voice of thousands of Mexican and Latin American farm workers during that period was critically important to King’s Poor People Campaign, one which was designed to radically redistribute wealth and eradicate income inequality in the United States.

When Chavez died in April of ‘93, 25 years after King’s assassination, his simple pine coffin and funeral cortege in Delano, California was followed by over 35,000 mourners, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Ethel Kennedy, widow of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and Mickey Kantor, then President Bill Clinton’s Trade Representative who presented condolences from the Oval Office.

While there is no question whatsoever that Chavez was a powerful force of good for immigrant and farm worker rights, the NY Times investigation, one which pedantically corroborates sexual assault allegations from three victims, establishes that Chavez was also a force of evil who preyed on girls as young as 12 years old in the shadows of his office complex.

While I post the link to the Times article for your review here, for those with neither the time or desire to delve further, allow me to summarize that allegations from Ana Marguia, 66, and Debra Rojas, also 66, describe Chavez’s acts of molestation as far back as 1972, when he was 45 years old and they were children incapable of granting sexual consent under California law.

Ms. Murguia testifies that she had known Chavez since she was eight years old, was first molested by him when she was 12, and while keeping her silence, was so traumatized that by the time she was 15, she had already attempted suicide multiple times.

Ms. Rojas testifies that Chavez first started fondling her when she was 12, and that the first time he raped her was three years later when she was 15 years old. Below is a letter that she wrote as a teen to Chavez.

The Times also interviewed Ms. Dolores Huerta, Chavez's Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers who claims that in 1966, when she was 36 years old, that Chavez raped her in his automobile after parking in a grape field. Huerta notes that she never went to law enforcement about the incident because she realized that the police were already hostile towards their movement and would use the allegations to destroy all that they were working towards to ameliorate conditions for thousands of immigrants and farm employees.

A 2024 photo of Dolores Huerta, Chavez’s civil rights partner who also alleges that he raped her in 1966. Per the NY Times: “The accounts of abuse from Ms. Murguia and Ms. Rojas were independently verified through interviews with those they confided in decades ago and in more recent years. Elements of their stories were also corroborated in documents, emails, itineraries and other writings from union organizers, supporters of Mr. Chavez and historians.

Right on cue yesterday, social media was filled with comments from Chavez supporters and the usual rape denying suspects posing their all too typical question: “why did these women wait so long to tell their stories?”

Over the past decade, whenever I see that or similar questions posed on my Facebook page or elsewhere, I ALWAYS remind that the simple truth is that many rape victims will go to their graves without ever seeking justice for the crimes that were perpetrated upon them. The reasons are myriad and highly personal, which is why I NEVER judge someone when they finally come forth to tell their truths.

Chavez with the King family and Andrew Young at Dr. King's grave circa 1970

When it comes to celebrities accused of rape, for years I have seen their fans and followers tie themselves into rhetorical knots trying to defend the indefensible even in the face of clear and convincing evidence of guilt. Whether the alleged rapist was Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly, Brett Kavanaugh, Sean Combs, Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, Jeffrey Epstein, or Donald Trump, the chorus of “those women/girls are lying” comments are not only painful for non celebrity rape victims to read, but it serves to reinforce the reality that the number one reason that rape victims tend to remain silent is because deep down inside, they fear that no one will believe them!

As I occasionally remind, in my own 53 years of living, I have stopped three incidents that I have no doubt would have ended in the rape of a young woman had I not been where I was at the precise time that everything was about to go down. Alcohol was heavily involved in all three situations, which is why I thank God that I was able to protect those women from being raped.

Sadly, millions of victims are not so fortunate, with the Centers for Disease Control reporting last December that:

• Nearly half of women and more than 1 in 6 men experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetimes.2

• More than 1 in 5 women and 1 in 31 men have experienced completed or attempted rape in their lifetimes.2

In essence, it is more likely than not that someone in your close family or circle of friends has already been sexually violated—or could become sexually violated before their time on Earth is up!

Such is why after reading every article I could find about the Chavez rape allegations yesterday, my deepest prayers and sympathies are with the women who have had to live for decades knowing that the man who is revered as an icon for his valiant work, was reviled in their hearts because he terrorized them with his dirty work. Which is why I believe them, and why I believe that it is important to not just condemn Chavez's dastardly deeds, but to continue to support these women and other victims who are forced to breathe the same air as their attackers—and when said violator is a celebrity, like Chavez was during his life, being forced to watch them celebrated on stage, at awards ceremonies, and even from the White House.

Lest we forget…