Walking with Sam, walking with Cesar

[UPDATED]

That's the biggest, most obvious difference between print and pixels: here in the blogosphere, it's interactive. You get your say, I get mine, we can say what we know, lock heads, and sometimes we can even hook up. At bottom, this is the one medium that isn't the message; at bottom, here in the blogosphere, it's all about the interactivity.

So it's good of so many of you to give wellwishes in the preceding post directly to Brian, who has an enormous heart for friends and family. And I must say in this my first post at this site (there may even be another someday) that it's absolutely great to be here, side by side with MayorSam for a little while, guest-blogging while MayorFrank tends to things.

That said, as MayorSam is my absolute favorite blog in Los Angeles, I'm under pressure here: I don't want to screw anything up! And as a guy who's notably a little more liberal than the gamekeepers here, and maybe the animals too, I'm going to have to be especially good...

So---let's get it started!

Commencing yesterday morning, there's this big Times series on the UFW, about which we wrote a little at Martini Republic. Loaded with UFW-bashing at the organizational level (which I don't really mind), today it also went out of its way to sideswipe a much-smaller subset: the very bloodline of Cesar Chavez. Observe:

Today, a Times investigation has found, Chavez's heirs run a web of tax-exempt organizations that exploit his legacy and invoke the harsh lives of farmworkers to raise millions of dollars in public and private money.

Now, when I read a line like that, I'm obliged to ask: "Miriam, where ya goin' with dat?"

In a charitable moment, you might believe that Ms. Pawel has in mind the UFW itself as Cesar's "heirs"---she could get away with that much at the figurative level. But then Miriam starts naming names, and sure enough they're all in the family: Paul Chavez generally gets his comeuppance today.

Over the last 15 years, the National Farm Workers Service Center has raised $230 million to buy or build more than 3,500 housing units for lower-income families in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Very few are for farmworkers.

Almost all have been built with nonunion labor.

"It's a tricky one," said Paul Chavez, who has run the charity since being tapped as president by his father in 1990. "We do the best we can. You should honor labor; you should help poor people."

Think of it: union people, not hiring union! As a sometime theater critic, I'm scarcely surprised, and half-wonder when the Times is going to get around to blowing the lid off of 99-seat limited-equity houses around town. Nor am I particularly shocked to learn that housing is a problem for farmworkers---hey, it's a problem for nurses! And yet when I read "Chavez's heirs...tax-exempt orgs..." how also can I (or anyone) not think of Christine Chavez, grandaughter of Cesar, animal-rights activist, candidate for Jacki Goldberg's termed-out seat, the 45th, and political director of today's California UFW?

I noted this morning that La Opinion's Jaime Olivares was quick to defend the political side of the UFW; click on MR link again for some of his thoughts and an English translation.

That there have been discernable shortcomings at the UFW comes as a surprise to nobody; anyone who's done bidness with the Union knows as much. But that doesn't make the union a sui generis among unions; and the degree to which Ms. Pawel is attacking not just the organization but the very bloodline itself can indeed be interpreted as an affront not just on the family but also on local Latino politicos.

Despite problems in the union, I think Pawel's "nut graf" (someone else's term) may have overreached here. This is a big series, wtih a big editorial backing---I think by the end it will be about 20,000 words, or about half a novella in length. Ultimately, the question I'm asking is, did Pawel overreach here, with the family stuff? Or will her broad swipe, that not just the UFW but Chavez family heirs themselves are "exploiting the legacy" of Cesar, extend beyond the Anglosphere, and make the family politically vulnerable in Latino circles as well?

UPDATE: I had a small conversation with Christine Chavez after this post, and while I don't want to quote from it directly, I'll paraphrase her end. Chavez is surprised that Ms. Pawel characterized her family in a way that suggests they might be living high on the hog. She's most disappointed in the way the Times has ignored the troubles that UFW has organizing when it's in the fields, citing severe resistance via pressure from growers on farmworkers. She says that more than 50% of the organization's efforts are dedicated to organizing. She says that Ms. Pawel has previously strayed towards the family when writing about the union. And she adds that anyone at all should contact the UFW if they have questions.

That said, I also think I made a mistake up there---not a big one, but it deserves acknowledgement, as I don't want to get into the habit of making mistakes at MayorSam. I said Christine Chavez was Political Director of the California CFW. That's been true until recently, but currently she's "on loan" to Equality California. However, she remains empowered to speak on behalf of the UFW.

Tomorrow: Will Pawel go after Cesar himself?