To the editor: Columnist Anita Chabria has found a way to put into words what so many of us felt after hearing the news about Cesar Chavez (“‘My silence ends here’: The heartbreaking burden of Dolores Huerta,” March 18). He was such a hero for so many of us back in our ’60s college days. Posters of him were displayed on dorm room walls, right next to those of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
We felt like we were doing something good and important when we boycotted grapes and then lettuce. He helped teach us that boycotts, marches and protests could bring real change. We never thought of him as a saint, though his seemingly selfish sacrifices and actions served as examples for how many of us hoped to live our lives.
That is why these allegations are so devastating. He apparently wasn’t just a flawed human being, something we could all accept. He was, based on the allegations, a dreadful monster. And Chabria made it somewhat less painful to accept that horrific fact.
Stephen F. Gladstone, Shaker Heights, Ohio
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To the editor: I suggest Chavez’s name on streets, schools and government buildings be replaced with Dolores Huerta’s (“As she and Cesar Chavez made history, Dolores Huerta carried a shocking secret,” March 18).
She was every bit as important to the farmworkers’ labor movement as Chavez was. She co-founded United Farm Workers with him, played a crucial role in organizing the Delano grape strike in 1965 and is credited with coining “sí se puede,” the rallying cry for the movement that we still hear today. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
Huerta’s impact didn’t end with the formation of UFW. It continues to this day, as current leading politicians and organizers credit her with their own inspirations to go into public service.
Nathalie Hoffman, Marina del Rey
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To the editor: For such an icon of civil and economic rights for those who provide our food to fall so far and in such disgrace is disheartening, to say the least (“Cesar Chavez accused of abusing girls, raping fellow leader Dolores Huerta, newspaper inquiry finds,” March 18).
What is to become of the holiday that once celebrated and honored this man? My suggestion is that it becomes “Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Day.” Yes, the title needs work, but you understand the idea.
David Schaffner, Arroyo Grande
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To the editor: I have long wondered why the media and government have continued to laud Chavez as one of the only Latino leaders worth elevating and naming streets after. It has been 178 years since the end of the Mexican-American War, Puerto Rico has been a territory of the U.S. for more than 100 years, and we know that the people we now call Latino have been present in the U.S. since its founding.
Throughout the Southwest, there have been Mexican American leaders in finance, education, the military and more, but Chavez dominated the conversations when it came time to name schools, streets and other facilities that serve large Mexican American communities.
It’s time people learn more about Celedonio Mondragón, Emma Tenayuca, Corky Gonzales, Marcelino Serna, Felipe Baca, Raúl Héctor Castro, Héctor P. García, Herman Badillo and Richie Pérez. We have plenty of people to look up to as examples beyond Cesar Chavez.
Adriana Maestas, Irvine
