Inside the cover-up of Cesar Chavez's alleged web of sexual abuse: 'Too big to fail'

"Chavez became too big to fail, and the consequences are that these women's suffering and violations were covered up oftentimes at the hands of the movement, and even the families that served it. As a result, his sexual abuse, of at least three women revealed in a New York Times investigation Wednesday, was set aside."

"It underscores something that I argued in my book in 2012...the movement was always bigger than Cesar and the hero worship that everybody participated in was detrimental to remembering the people that made the farm workers union great."

New investigations reveal that Cesar Chavez, the influential labor leader who shaped the farm worker movement in the 1960s and 1970s, sexually abused at least three women, including underage victims Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, and fellow United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta. Huerta, now 95, had never publicly disclosed her assault due to fear of police and union retaliation. Biographer Matthew Garcia explains that Chavez became "too big to fail" within labor and Latino communities, causing institutions and families to suppress evidence of abuse to protect his legacy. The hero worship surrounding Chavez prevented accountability and overshadowed the contributions of other farm worker movement leaders.

Read at California Post