Local opinion: Dolores Huerta’s truth is a test for our collective conscience

The recent accusations against César Chávez have deeply shaken the community that for generations has considered him a symbol of struggle and dignity. The investigation published by The New York Times, after more than five years of research, has not only called into question the image of a historic leader of the United Farm Workers, but has also opened a deeper wound: Are we capable of listening to and believing women, even when the truth is uncomfortable and devastating?

The questions came immediately: Why now? Why after so much time? Why did Dolores Huerta remain silent?

But those questions, repeated time and time again in similar cases, are not seeking to understand, they are seeking to doubt women.

The reality is more complex and more painful. In the 1960s, amidst the birth of the farmworker and Chicano movements, a denunciation like this would not only have destroyed the woman who made it but would have jeopardized the entire movement. Dolores's silence was not complicity, but survival and a profound commitment to the workers.

If today, in an era where greater awareness and "wokeness" are presumed, the victim is still questioned, it is easy to imagine the fate that awaited Dolores and the other victims back then.

This moment demands more than outrage. It demands disciplined reflection.

The patriarchal system inherited from colonization could not be clearer. What we are experiencing globally today requires the complete rejection of "the feminine," viewing "the feminine" as a weakness, something to be dominated, automatic doubt towards women, the protection of power, and the questioning of the victim. Patriarchy not only demands the complete eradication of female power but also forces men to abandon and betray any feminine trait they might consider their own, anything that might make them appear weak, fragile, or vulnerable.

Patriarchy must be challenged and dismantled if we want to protect women, children, and our planet.

Therefore, this moment should not be seen as the fall of a single man, but as a test for an entire community and for all of society.

Will we continue to defend patriarchy, or will we have the courage to face the truth? How will we educate our sons in the future? How will we confront and stop violence against women? We are only just beginning to understand the violence that patriarchy generates in our lives and the invisible ways in which it is reinforced daily. But we find ourselves at a crossroads. How do we talk about women when they are not present, and how do we raise our voices for them when they are not there to hear? When a friend tells a sexist joke, when a woman walks by and is leered at, when a woman raises her voice and says she feels unsafe.

Dolores Huerta has given us the opportunity to reflect deeply on a truth that has remained hidden. A truth that, as men, we have ignored for far too long. That violence, in all its forms, must be confronted with truth, honesty, reflection, and change. For the spirit of our movement to endure, we must eradicate sexism and patriarchy from our movement and from our lives, and we can begin by supporting survivors. We can begin by standing in solidarity with Dolores.

Believing Dolores doesn't mean erasing history. It means completing it. It means acknowledging that even our heroes can fail and that justice cannot depend on convenience.

Because without justice for women, there is no justice for all people; there is no justice for humanity.