DON GONYEA, HOST:
For the past 25 years, March 31 has been a state holiday in California. It's the birthday of Cesar Chavez, the Latino labor leader. But last week, state lawmakers voted to rename the holiday. This Tuesday and in coming years, what was Cesar Chavez Day will be known as Farmworkers Day. This comes after a recent New York Times investigation documenting sexual abuse and assault allegations against Chavez. Joining us now is Oliver Rosales. He is a history professor at Bakersfield College, where he focuses on Chicano and California history. Thanks for being with us.
OLIVER ROSALES: Thank you, Don. Glad to be here.
GONYEA: I mentioned that you teach at Bakersfield College in California's Central Valley, but more specifically, you're actually at the college's campus in Delano. That's the town where Chavez, in 1962, co-founded what became the United Farm Workers, along with Dolores Huerta. I'm wondering what it's been like going in to teach after the news of these allegations.
ROSALES: Yeah. When the article broke, I read it when it came out at 7 a.m., and it was earth-shattering. It was - you could feel the reverberations. I was actually scheduled to talk about farm labor history that day, and we sort of pivoted and looked at not only the article, but the statement that was put out by Dolores Huerta. I think for the students, it was discombobulating. It was a lot to process, and I think they're still processing it.
GONYEA: What was that moment like when you walked into the classroom on the day of these allegations? Do you kind of, like, take a deep breath and...
ROSALES: Yeah. It was a strange moment. I think I was glad to be in Delano at that moment. And for a lot of the kids, a lot of the students, you know, they don't necessarily think that their stories matter, that the stories of their parents matter, their grandparents. And so this is particularly hard for them because, you know, that was where they might've seen themselves in the curriculum was in the story of the farmworker movement. So it's very disheartening for them, but I think the idea that the farmworker movement was always more than the story of one man is very important, right? And that's what we need to kind of lean into, I think, as you know, educators and as people who care about this history is, like, decentering that hero narrative.
GONYEA: Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993, was, as you just said, revered. But now California has already swiftly renamed the holiday, along with many schools and streets. Murals are painting over. A prominent statue of Chavez in Sacramento has been wrapped in black plastic kind of unceremoniously. What do you make of all of this?
ROSALES: You know, I think for the Latino community in particular, it's kind of a little bit of a moment of mental crises, and we have to kind of process the trauma because it's difficult to see, you know, statues go down or murals go down. But in the world of historians, like, the legacy of Chavez has been under review for quite some time. But there's a disconnect, say, between how historians talk about the legacy of Chavez versus the public. And so I think that's kind of what we're seeing happen right now is those worlds are kind of being bridged.
But I think it also underscores the need to highlight, again, the diversity of leaders that came out of the farmworker movement like Larry Itliong, for example. The Filipino Historical Society was instrumental in pushing, in California, Assembly Bill 123, which was getting the Filipino story into the curriculum, right? And they're the ones who started the Delano grape strike. So maybe, again, this could be used as an opportunity to highlight Filipino contributions, again, as well as the broad scope of leaders who came and were trained through the farmworker movement.
GONYEA: Do you see a way to keep the history of farmworkers organizing in the public eye without Chavez? I mean, there've been suggestions to rename things for labor leader Dolores Huerta. And just to remind listeners, she is one of those accusing Chavez of rape.
ROSALES: Yeah. I think that was - it was very difficult to - that testimony. But I was also extremely proud of Dolores for having the courage to break her silence. I've seen the good work that she's done with her foundation in Bakersfield for over two decades and know how difficult it must be to share that very painful story. So I told my students that's a silver lining, right? And even in her interviews that she did with Maria Hinojosa, you know, she talked about leveraging the moment, and let's talk about sexual violence, let's talk about patriarchy and sexual abuse toward men and boys. These are issues that we need to be talking about.
GONYEA: And I'm wondering, are you thinking differently about your own teaching, maybe, as the next semester rolls around?
ROSALES: Yeah. I mean, I've always tried to teach a complex farm labor history, particularly in Kern County, which has the legacy of, you know, Steinbeck's "Grapes Of Wrath," and, you know, Allensworth, California, which was a independent Black colony founded in the early 20th century. So for California's Central Valley, the story of farm labor has always been multiracial. It's always been complex. And that was the significance of the United Farm Workers, was pulling together different ethnic, racial groups who had been pitted against one another to drive down the price of labor. So regardless if Chavez is moved - removed from the curriculum, that story remains the same. You know, California's Central Valley has always been a place of great historical significance, and it draws attention to the significance of the farmworker movement as a whole as a kind of catalyst moment for labor and civil rights in this country.
GONYEA: And no shortage of stories to tell, I'm sure.
ROSALES: No shortage of stories to tell. Absolutely. But that's the hard work that we have to do as teachers and educators and members of the public, is to ensure those stories are taught in our schools.
GONYEA: That's Oliver Rosales. He's a history professor at Bakersfield College. Thank you for joining us.
ROSALES: Thank you so much.
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