By Sherry Robinson
All She Wrote

As astonishing as the recent Cesar Chavez revelations were the speed and decisiveness of the response. Within a day of the New York Times story revealing the legendary civil rights activist as a sexual predator, organizations canceled commemorative marches and communities moved to re-name streets and buildings.

No denials, no equivocation, no excuses.

In the context of other disturbing news right now, this one was hard to hear. For decades, the Unit-ed Farm Workers leader was a voice for the voiceless. But he created a new class of the voiceless who finally spoke out as older adults, after much personal tragedy. One of them was Dolores Huerta, who said, “My heart aches for everyone who suffered alone and in silence for years.”

In the 1970s Chavez sexually abused two girls who were the daughters of his longtime organizers, according to the investigative story. A powerful, charismatic man then in his 40s, he was renowned as a champion of farmworkers. As is often the case in these situations, more women have come forward.

Huerta, born in the Colfax County mining town of Dawson, co-founded the group that became the United Farm Workers with Chavez. “I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,” she said in a statement.

We grieve for Huerta, who is loved and admired here. She said she never saw herself as a victim but convinced herself that “these were incidents that I had to endure alone and in secret.” She was heartsick to learn others had too, although some were discouraged from telling their stories. Immediately, the UFW said it had “learned of deeply troubling allegations that one of the union’s co-founders, Cesar Chavez, behaved in ways that are incompatible with our organization’s values… Allegations that very young women or girls may have been victimized are crushing.” While the UFW had no firsthand knowledge or direct reports, it said, “We need some time to get this right, including to ensure robust, trauma-informed services are available to those who may need it.”

The usual marches and celebrations of the man were quickly canceled, and cities across the south-west announced the removal of his name from street signs and public buildings. Schools in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Deming and Las Cruces bear Chavez’s name, reported Source NM, and monuments and murals can be found around the state.

One day after the allegations became public, Albuquerque’s mayor announced that his city would begin removing the name. However, it’s one thing to pry sign the sign from the Cesar Chavez Community Center and another to change a street name. Avenida Cesar Chavez stretches through the heart of the city and everyone with that address must be notified. Albuquerque and other communities must work with artists to change public murals.

Albuquerque has some experience

obliterating reminders of disgraced public figures. There was former Sen. Manny Aragon’s name on a building at the National Hispanic Cultural Center and former Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton’s name on a building at the State Fairgrounds. More recently, UNM’s Health Sciences Center quietly removed former Gov. Bill Richardson’s name from a building.

Richardson is an early Epstein casualty. The Albuquerque Journal reported that Richardson arranged to meet with Epstein on a number of occasions before and after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida on sex charges. To be fair, the high-rolling Epstein was known to cultivate and collect power brokers, and Richardson’s need to raise money to run for president led to some unsavory alliances. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.

We’ll soon learn more as the new legislative subcommittee, dubbed the “truth commission,” has begun investigating the late financier’s Zorro Ranch south of Santa Fe. The four-member, bipartisan group intends to gather information through subpoenas, a website and a phone line. U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., who’s had access to unredacted Epstein files, says they include names of prominent New Mexicans and allegations that women and men were brought to Zorro Ranch for sexual exploitation.

Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, who chairs the subcommittee, said of Cesar Chavez, “The painful pattern of powerful men using their positions to silence survivors, while the institutions around them look away, is precisely what the Epstein truth commission was created to confront.”

As the U.S. Justice Department drags its feet, the public is ever more impatient to see answers and accountability. The United Farm Workers and Hispanic leaders are showing the way.