Just a few weeks ago we removed the portrait of Noam Chomsky from the AWTT gallery because of his association with the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. As far as we know Chomsky himself was not involved in sexual abuse of girls, but he assisted Epstein in protecting his reputation from negative exposure. Even though Chomsky was not directly involved in sex trafficking, we thought the issue critical enough that we had to take an emphatic stand. Abuse of women and girls has to be condemned—outweighing all other considerations. We thought—hoped—we wouldn’t have to deal with this again.

And then came, just a few days ago, the shocking revelations of Cesar Chavez’s abuse and raping of girls and women who were part of the United Farm Workers (UFW) movement. Like Chomsky, Chavez (1927-1993) was one the early portraits in this project. Chavez was—and is—an icon of our civil rights and labor history. His leadership proved  that with militant, nonviolent organizing, protest and boycotts, poor workers could confront their racist exploitation by corporate power and win better wages, housing, health care, education, working conditions, respect and dignity. Chavez’s persistence and courage on the behalf of people suffering debilitating discrimination was on a par with Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Chavez shared the guidance of the UFW with Dolores Huerta, the less prominent, but equally important organizer. I am embarrassed that when I painted Chavez I did not paint Dolores Huerta, too. Chavez was the more famous figure and, I thought, sufficient to make the point about the power of organizing migrant workers. Now we find out that among Chavez’s victims was Huerta herself whom he abused and raped. Huerta, still living at 95, tells us that she kept her rape a secret for fear of tarnishing the reputation of Chavez and the migrant workers movement. To her, the success of the movement was more important than accountability for Chavez.  

We will treat Chavez’s expulsion in the same way we did Chomsky’s—taking the portrait out of circulation but leaving up the record of important civil rights and social justice work. And in the next few months I will add a portrait of Dolores Huerta.

At AWTT we say that our mission is to provide models of courageous citizenship. We stand for justice, truth, compassion, equality, and the dignity of all people. We had previously used the inspiring struggle of Cesar Chavez against corporate farmers to take that stance. That will continue. But we now take that stance against Cesar Chavez on behalf of the girls and women he abused.