Thursday, the Kegely Institute with CSU Bakersfield held a town hall meeting for students and community members to discuss their emotions and thoughts surrounding Cesar Chavez and the allegations of sexual assault. A prominent theme of the discussion was how community members can grieve the previous idolization of a leader and heal as a community moving forward.
Dr. Jose Villagran, Assistant Professor of Latinx studies, hosted the event and spoke about his upbringing and his work in the field alongside his mother.
“I’ve had many farm worker heroes, and, you know, I like to say this all the time, nobody, to me, is a bigger farm worker hero than my mother and my father,” said Villagran. “So, I don’t think it necessarily threw me off too much, because I just see the world from that farm worker lens, and I’ve had the privilege of knowing so many wonderful and brave and valiant and courageous farm workers, that I think that I just lean on those stories more now, but I think I’ve always leaned on those stories in many ways.”
Villagran explained that he hoped the conversation would help students process the situation and discuss how to move forward. He also added that the discussion was planned further out so it could be done intentionally. Both the counseling office and the victims advocate for CSUB were present for the discussion.
“I don’t want students to sort of turn away from the sort of values of ethnic studies and Chicano studies, because of, perhaps, a potentially bad actor, right? I wanted to bring them back into the fold in terms of, you know, having discussions about the collective spirit of our movements and the righteous struggle of minorities in this country,” said Villagran.
Valeria Zapata, a student at CSUB, said she hopes moving forward, people focus on the movement and not just one idol.
“Focusing more on the movement itself, not just that person. I know Professor Villagran mentioned a lot of different activists that were important, and, you know, a student mentioned the Filipinos that were involved as well. Like, it wasn’t just one person. It was multiple people, and just centering away from idolizing a person and just the group, the whole movement,” said Zapata.
Another student, Linda Gonzalez, spoke about the aftermath of reading the allegations as people questioned why the survivors took so long to tell their stories. Gonzalez said it motivated her to tell her own story of being a survivor 29 years later.
“I am a survivor as well, and I had never shared my story until recently. Because I feel that, like I said, there’s no timeline for women to report, and I feel that the way that people are talking about Dolores sharing her story and not believing her, I feel that I need to speak up for victims, so that they can become survivors and take back their lives. And it was important for me to share my own personal story. So that we can, I guess, let the public know that there’s no timeline,” said Gonzales.
Gonzales added that as a survivor, they know when they feel comfortable speaking up and should not be judged for doing so.
“There’s this fear of being ridiculed or called a liar, and that’s exactly what’s happening with Dolores and the victims. The many victims who have come forth about Cesar. You know, what’s coming out from the public is just negative comments that they should not be making those comments, because for me, as a victim, as a survivor, you know when it’s ready for you to tell your story,” said Gonzales, asking the community to have empathy.
Zapata echoed the same sentiment of empathy and the importance of believing those who come forward to tell their stories.
“Just being empathetic towards the victims, and not just in this situation, just in general, just, like, hearing them out and not questioning, like, oh, why until now? Like, why? Just because it didn’t happen to you, you just don’t understand how hard it is to come out and speak about stuff. So just being empathetic and understanding,” said Zapata.
She and other students present during the conversation stated that the farmworker movement is bigger than Cesar Chavez and that the community is the heart of the movement.
“We need to change that culture, the culture and society where victims can’t come out and speak their story. Even though Cesar was a very big part of the movement, like I said, it’s a collective effort through community members. It’s personal stories like my family’s own stories that make the UFW and all their accomplishments so worthy because it’s everyday people,” said Villagran.
Villagran spoke about what the conversations were linked to in his classroom as the New York Times and other publications published the allegations.
“In my classrooms, I was basically reacting in real time, like as things were being released, if I was in the middle of teaching, I would just start reading the reports to class, because I believe very much in building trust through transparency. And so I think, you know, what kind of educator would I be if, like, I’m withholding information that is publicly accessible?” said Villagran, adding that withholding the information can also make a teacher lose credibility.
He spoke about the atmosphere in the class as they discussed the allegations. He added that, as teachers at any education level, it is important to be transparent even when they have to address the “inconvenient truths that we have to talk about involve the actions of people of color.”
“I would say it was a dark cloud hanging over all of our conversation, because I think students were, again, disheartened. But I think that, I think that a lot of students come into a class like mine, one rooted in Chicano studies, and rooted in many of their experiences, looking for hope, looking for inspiration. And I’d like to think that I helped provide that through the conversation, let’s say, all of our collective, sort of heroes and movement heroes,” said Villagran. “And so, I would say that it was generative. Students were talking a lot, and they weren’t being shy, and they had a lot of things to say, and some students cried, and, you know, that’s, you know, of course, those people were validated in my classroom.”
A major theme of the discussion was acknowledging the farmworkers of the movement and still honoring the communities that fought for their rights. Villagran noted that many people may have already been looking for an excuse to look down on the farmworker movement.
“I think there are many people in this community who would love to erase the actions of the farm workers, because the farm workers stood up to the agribusiness power class of this community, and they already didn’t like the farm worker movement from the beginning,” said Villagran.
An attendee during the discussion made a similar comment, adding that the United Farm Workers Foundation (UFW) is still fighting for farmworkers’ rights today. He stated he would like to see the voices of others in the movement raised. Villagran added to his point, saying that the UFW is now run by a Mexican immigrant woman and not the Chavez family, explaining that there are different people involved and still striving to make a change.
He added that despite being Kern County and the Central Valley, it can still be difficult for the movement to be highlighted.
“I mean, it’s been a struggle, right, to get any kind of recognition for the farm worker movement right here, and it’s sad, because this is the hub of the farm worker movement. And so, I guess I wish my main takeaway is that we can perhaps turn to be louder about recognition for farm workers than ever before. And so my call to all people out there is to not erase the farm workers for the actions and allegations of this one man.”
Throughout the discussion, students and Villagran spoke about how the community can heal together. Gonzales said that these discussions are where healing starts.
“Healing as a community involves meetings like this, where people can come and listen to other people speaking and respect what we’re all thinking and come to a consensus that we don’t all have to think the same way, but we should be empathetic to others. And we should be creating safe spaces so women can feel comfortable. Victims can feel comfortable to come in and share their personal stories,” said Gonzales.