Powerful people feel entitled, because they are powerful. Even if their power is directed toward “good,” they still have that background feeling that the world is theirs to direct. The good ones don’t take advantage of it.
I'm old. I have never looked at any man as a hero. I walked the fields with our farm worker comrades. I walked the streets with the Black Panthers, the SDS and hid with the Weathermen.
Heroes only exist if you are describing some ethereal creature, not mere mortals.
Apparently Dolores Huerta wasn't that much of a saint, either. According to the folks at LGM she participated in Chávez's cult-of-personality mind games, even after he had raped her. I hate that I have to be angry at both of them while revering what they built up.
I have honestly side-eyed her for a while since she told the verifiably obvious lie about Bernie Sanders' voters in 2016 (the moderator of a caucus, who was NOT a Sanders supporter but was in fact neutral, said something about "English only" and she and America Ferrara then reported that it was Sanders' supporters doing it), but this story is very sad on all ends.
I grew up revering those two and the work they were doing. So I am deeply sad to learn this and of course, worried about how this will be used by the fash. Bless Madam Huerta for her strength in putting the movement first, disgusted that Mister Chavez didn't bother to do the same.
I will be 60 this year. I have been a labor nerd as long as I can remember. I have had the amazing privilege of working in the labor movement for the last 18 years.
And I can honestly say that I was deeply saddened to learn about Chavez, and I was not surprised.
Women in the labor movement deal with a ton of shit, rooted in sexism. It’s a small universe of people that do this work, and women know which “leaders” to avoid, and why. I’m not ready to say we don’t need icons, but I will say we need to be more thoughtful about who we raise up and why.
Women that work in this movement often choose to keep silent about bad actors. Part of that is just the fact we know that women aren’t believed. And there’s also some complicated shit around not wanting to damage the movement. That’s fucking real. It’s why you seldom see unions criticizing each other in public (and yes, we do talk shit behind closed doors). This is a minor thing a lot of the time - kinda like a person will talk shit about their brother or sister to a friend, and if a stranger goes after them, that person will become a rabid defender of their shit sibling.
For women, that weight of keeping your shit in-house falls hard. Because there is real truth in the statement that the capitalists will use every opportunity to come for unions. And, as workers, women are provably better off with unions, than without.
Not a single woman I talked to today was surprised. And all of us are so hurt.
Humankind’s most toxic trait is their need to worship the nearest con man.
Amen. Here’s my (similar) take: https://storypower.substack.com/p/against-heroism
You’re right about one thing — putting people on pedestals is how abuse gets protected.
But “we don’t need icons” isn’t reality, it’s cope.
Movements always have leaders. Always. The difference is whether you treat them like humans or like saints you’re not allowed to question.
You don’t solve this by pretending leaders don’t exist.
You solve it by killing the hero worship and keeping accountability.
I mentioned this to Easy, and he said that this is why we should have statues to ideas, not people.
This makes me absolutely sick. I really admired Cesar Chavez.
Powerful people feel entitled, because they are powerful. Even if their power is directed toward “good,” they still have that background feeling that the world is theirs to direct. The good ones don’t take advantage of it.
This is a difficult reckoning, but absolutely necessary.
What I keep coming back to is:
I AM NOT SURPRISED just deeply saddened by the burden women carry SO OFTEN
Ta, Robyn. No more icons, no more heroes. And rename all the streets and so forth for Dolores Huerta, who suffered in silence for decades.
I'm old. I have never looked at any man as a hero. I walked the fields with our farm worker comrades. I walked the streets with the Black Panthers, the SDS and hid with the Weathermen.
Heroes only exist if you are describing some ethereal creature, not mere mortals.
Apparently Dolores Huerta wasn't that much of a saint, either. According to the folks at LGM she participated in Chávez's cult-of-personality mind games, even after he had raped her. I hate that I have to be angry at both of them while revering what they built up.
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/03/on-the-chavez-revelations
I have honestly side-eyed her for a while since she told the verifiably obvious lie about Bernie Sanders' voters in 2016 (the moderator of a caucus, who was NOT a Sanders supporter but was in fact neutral, said something about "English only" and she and America Ferrara then reported that it was Sanders' supporters doing it), but this story is very sad on all ends.
I grew up revering those two and the work they were doing. So I am deeply sad to learn this and of course, worried about how this will be used by the fash. Bless Madam Huerta for her strength in putting the movement first, disgusted that Mister Chavez didn't bother to do the same.
César Chávez, Cesar Chavez
He may be a douche, but you should spell his name correctly.
I will be 60 this year. I have been a labor nerd as long as I can remember. I have had the amazing privilege of working in the labor movement for the last 18 years.
And I can honestly say that I was deeply saddened to learn about Chavez, and I was not surprised.
Women in the labor movement deal with a ton of shit, rooted in sexism. It’s a small universe of people that do this work, and women know which “leaders” to avoid, and why. I’m not ready to say we don’t need icons, but I will say we need to be more thoughtful about who we raise up and why.
Women that work in this movement often choose to keep silent about bad actors. Part of that is just the fact we know that women aren’t believed. And there’s also some complicated shit around not wanting to damage the movement. That’s fucking real. It’s why you seldom see unions criticizing each other in public (and yes, we do talk shit behind closed doors). This is a minor thing a lot of the time - kinda like a person will talk shit about their brother or sister to a friend, and if a stranger goes after them, that person will become a rabid defender of their shit sibling.
For women, that weight of keeping your shit in-house falls hard. Because there is real truth in the statement that the capitalists will use every opportunity to come for unions. And, as workers, women are provably better off with unions, than without.
Not a single woman I talked to today was surprised. And all of us are so hurt.
WTF? Why is it always girls?
Is brute and/or brawn ever the best idea?
It doesn’t have to be this way!