Commentary: And just like that, the Cesar Chavez myth is punctured. What's next?

"Groups began to cancel long-planned parades, dinners, lectures and fundraisers scheduled for Chavez's birthday on March 31. People who I've known for years suddenly weren't returning calls or texts about what was going on. Longtime defenders of Chavez - who stood by their hero even as revelations in this paper and in biographies over the past generation showed there was a dark side to the man - suddenly became hard to reach."

"Wednesday morning, the New York Times published a story where two women whose families marched alongside Chavez in the fields of California during the 1960s and 1970s disclosed that he sexually abused them for years when they were girls. Just as shocking was the revelation by Dolores Huerta, Chavez's longtime compatriot and a civil rights legend, that he had once raped her."

"When the United Farm Workers and the Cesar Chavez Foundation put out statements Tuesday morning that 'troubling allegations' against their patriarch were considered credible enough for them to offer help to his victims, the silence transformed into dread. There was a discomfort similar to waiting for a tsunami - that whatever was coming would change lives, shake institutions and make people question values and principles."

Allegations of sexual abuse against Cesar Chavez have surfaced, causing organizations to cancel planned celebrations of his birthday and creating widespread discomfort among longtime supporters. The United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez Foundation acknowledged the credibility of troubling allegations and offered support to victims. The New York Times reported that two women disclosed years of sexual abuse by Chavez during the 1960s and 1970s, and Dolores Huerta, his longtime civil rights partner, revealed he had raped her during their prominent leadership in the farmworkers' movement. The revelations prompted politicians and organizations to rapidly release statements reassessing their commemoration of Chavez.

Read at Los Angeles Times