Sexual abuse allegations made Cesar Chavez a pariah. Don’t punish farmworkers | Opinion
Five days after The New York Times published a report alleging Cesar Chavez groomed and sexually abused minors, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors convened a special meeting to eliminate his name from a scheduled holiday. However, there is a difference between the man and the legacy.
The collateral damage caused by these revelations threatens the scope of instruction in our schools about the contributions of the national farmworkers’ movement. In the absence of clear and coherent guidance from educational leaders, there is a possibility that these revelations may lead to the elimination or narrowing of the curriculum about the significant social movement that improved the lives of farmworkers.
It is imperative that Chavez and the momentous farmworker history be differentiated.
Curriculum about farmworkers
Educators should teach students about the inaugural meeting of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) held on September 30, 1962, in Fresno — a meeting that spawned a movement.
The birth of the NFWA deserves to be an essential topic in school curriculum. By learning about 200 farmworkers, family and friends who met that day, students will learn about the struggle for civil rights, a neglected labor group’s power of agency and the use of primary source materials as a rich resource for the analysis and interpretation of historical events.
That historic day in Fresno ignited a social movement that challenged the disparate relations of power between agriculture growers and farmworkers.
Unsung heroes
There are many unsung heroes who made valuable contributions to the national farmworkers’ movement. Many contributed to the revolutionary landscape that drastically changed the working conditions in agricultural fields.
Jim Drake, an ordained minister, conceived the boycott of grapes during the Delano Grape Strike between 1965 and 1970. After crops were harvested, strikes and pickets were no longer effective as bargaining agents.
Maria Moreno was the first female farmworker in the U.S. to be hired as a union organizer in 1959. She was an instrumental leader within the male-dominated Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.
Antonio Orendain was elected in 1962 as secretary/treasurer of the NFWA and kept that office until 1973. Chavez deployed Orendain to Starr County, Texas in 1966 to lead a melon strike. Chavez feared the disruption in Starr County would hinder support of the Delano Strike in California.
And Eliseo Medina was only 21 years old when he was dispatched to Chicago to begin the boycott campaign. He was later elected to the board of the United Farm Workers.
Preserve an important legacy
It is time to recognize leaders who risked their lives on picket lines, worked from boycott houses across the country, and selflessly marched for the benefit of the downtrodden.
Someday, historians will examine the context of Chavez’ downfall and community reaction. Hopefully, they will find that the legacy of the national farmworkers’ movement was not tarnished.
Paul A. Garcia is a retired educator who writes about issues affecting the Latino community.
This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Sexual abuse allegations made Cesar Chavez a pariah. Don’t punish farmworkers | Opinion."