“It became a snare to Gideon and to his house” Judges 8:27
I debated for a couple of weeks whether or not to address the startling allegations against UFW labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez, who I have written about multiple times in the last two years at the Anxious Bench and in other essays. In fact, I was recently interviewed about the impact of these allegations.
I figured with the interview that I have said what I wanted to say. However, the more I thought about it I realized that one of the parts that has infuriated me the most was how historians have missed this story.
Today is Easter and this is the last thing I want to write about. I wrote a little in the morning before Easter service, followed by brunch at the church (carne asada was especially tasty). I am up from my nap, the family went out, and I am all alone with my computer. I still don’t want to write about this.
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In a very candid article that followed the New York Times report, one of Chavez’s most recent and critical biographers, Miriam Pawel, says she was not surprised at the allegations from what she learned about his character. However, she was still shocked at what she read. Still, she summarizes her experience researching Chavez: “He was never the secular saint he was successfully marketed as for so many years.” It was, in fact, his appeal as a secular saint that attracted my research interests for almost ten years.
In my first book I talked about history as studying the good, the bad and the ugly. Pawel gets to this idea when she writes: “Mr. Chavez did a lot of good—and a lot of bad.” I read book after book from the library at Santa Ana College and they contained mostly the good. The religiously themed books especially emphasized the good. Of course the childrens’ books did as well (Chavez always smiling on the cover). Very little was written about the bad, even Pawel admits so much.
Historians often point out that it takes historical distance to really understand how a historical event unfolds. One of my favorite sayings about historical time comes from the German philosopher of history Hegel. He notes that the Owl of Minerva takes flight only as the dusk begins to fall. What he means is understanding only comes after the fact. In short, it is easy to cast judgment in hindsight.
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Contemporary judgment was swift. Before parents and children could even process what to do with the multiple books on their shelf about their Mexican American hero, the statues vanished and politicians rushed to change holiday and street names faster than they have ever acted about anything else in their lives.
The accusations are monstrous. The anger at the man and the sympathy for the victims is clearly one of the reasons people have moved to remove his image so quickly. He let so many down. Finally some accountability.
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I found it strange that I was reading and writing about musicians and rock stars as of late. Stars like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen were not without their own demons. However, you might almost expect rock starts to behave badly. But the Latino secular saint is another matter. When the hagiography highlights the good it is easy to miss the real flesh and blood man from the saint’s aura.
In the case of the poet/musicians they at least had the wherewithal to paint the world as both dark and light, that redemption is out there if you look hard enough (even though they struggle to actually realize their own advice). They rarely pretend to be saintly. Prophets, perhaps.
At this point, we do not even know if Chavez ever spoke to someone about such sins. He has been dead for over thirty years. Where is his confessor with a new revelation?
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What we don’t remember,
Lives in us, forever.
Cynthia Cruz, Guidebooks for the Dead
I hope the historians and researchers are allowed to really look at the documents and really listen to the living witnesses. The historian’s aim should be in bringing a touch of sobriety to a subject that desperately needs it. Let the historians do their work. Perhaps with time more and more of our predecessors in history can be memorialized instead. Sometimes this works.
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The Chavez story reminds me of the biblical story of Gideon. Gideon comes from humble beginnings to lead ancient Israel against its enemies. They have a tremendous victory. However, Gideon is unable to maintain the righteous path. He turns down offers to be king but instead sets up idolatry, inevitably living like a king anyway. As writer Frederick Buechner declares: “The best thing the judge Gideon ever did and the worst mistake he ever made came within moments of each other.”
The best thing and the worst mistake will be the conflict history of the UFW for years to come. The man was not humbled in his life and now his legacy, and that of the UFW and the Chicano Movement, will reap the consequences. It will take years for a real reckoning. I hope one is there in the future.
The Bible says that Gideon’s idolatry was a snare both to him and his house. Pawel reveals that with the success of the farm worker’s movement, (real, tangible, concrete, historical success), Chavez became a brand. Megalomania seemed to take over this American Gideon like it does for so many leaders from the past and the present. This brand is now a snare to his legacy, his family and our nation. In almost biblical proportions, the murals, the statues, the streets, all of the brand, will be gone. Swept away from history.
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It is now the day before I need to post. I have sat with these thoughts since Easter. I still don’t like writing about this. Thank God I have classes this morning and trying to finish Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! has distracted me (got to the twist that I am unsure of). Better people than me will write deeper things about this American tragedy.
What’s next? Well I don’t have much faith in the politicians and the activists. However, it is not like I have answers.
Some say we don’t need one man to represent a movement. That’s true, it does seem to take a village. But if you think there was a scarcity of Latino history in textbooks before…at least Cesar got the little picture in the purple box at the bottom of the page in the US history textbook (so much happened in the 1960s).
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