Dolores Huerta, sexual violence survivors speak out against Cesar 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. Following the New York Times' multi-year investigation into sexual misconduct by Cesar Chavez, I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences."

"The New York Times revealed that children as young as age 12 were abused by Chavez. Huerta said she was motivated to speak out after being contacted for an investigation by The New York Times, which documented the sexual misconduct allegations against the labor leader."

"Chavez, who died in 1993, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association alongside Huerta and other advocates. They rose to fame during the US civil rights movement of the 1960s, practising nonviolent protest techniques similar to those of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr."

Dolores Huerta, a prominent civil rights activist, has broken decades of silence to speak out against sexual violence perpetrated by labor leader Cesar Chavez. Following a multi-year New York Times investigation that documented abuse of children as young as 12, Huerta revealed her own experiences at age 96. She and other women had remained silent for 60 years, fearing exposure would damage the farmworker movement they dedicated their lives to advancing. Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Huerta and became famous during the 1960s civil rights movement for nonviolent protest techniques. Their advocacy drew attention to abuses facing immigrant farmworkers in Hispanic and Filipino American communities. Activists and politicians have called for Chavez's honors to be stripped following these accusations.

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