The Delta College community was affected in late March when the New York Times investigative report detailed the sexual abuse and misconduct on the late civil rights leader and Chicano icon Cesar Chavez.
It hit especially hard when Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, and Delta College alumni described her abuse.
In the report and in a statement released after its publication, Huerta revealed her history with Chavez and labeled herself as a survivor.
Many migrant workers are immigrants, or come from mixed status families. Stockton and Delta College had been proud to claim the name and image of Chavez for murals, street names, schools and a library.
The report felt like a betrayal to the community and brought up unspoken traumas for Delta College students and faculty. The news brought up layers of raw emotions that won’t reconcile quickly, but campus leaders worked to start a conversation.
A week after the article was published, on March 26th, Delta hosted a community healing event, “Love Letters to Dolores” organized by Chincanx/Lanine Faculty (CLF), Student Protection for Advocacy, Resources and Knowledge (SPARK), and Delta College Student Services.
“This event is not the work of any one person, it is a collective effort across faculty, staff, managers, administrators and students. What you see here today is a community of care,” Professor Nicole Sandoval said in her opening of the event.
The event had many speakers from professors to students about their own experiences, emotions and thoughts.
“We are living through a time when there are so many heavy and overwhelming, overwhelming things happening at once. There are many challenges that we face on our own, such as fear, anxiety, frustration and uncertainty. But when we come together in community, we are powerful. We are influential, we are strong. And although it may feel like it, we are not alone,” Digital Media student Michalea Cabang said during the event.
The community dialogue and healing town hall attended by students, faculty and admins. As reported by the Collegian, it was created for all to express their thoughts and hurts from this community betrayal.
“We rely on experts to guide us, and we’re grateful to have them here, but in our everyday lives, we are also in relationship with one another, friends, family, classmates, and when someone shares something difficult, we prepare to listen to validate and refer them to trusted resources when needed. Being in community is a critical part of healing,” Sandoval said.
Crisis counselors Heather Bradford and Dr. Alina Sala, were also in attendance and aided in leading grounding exercises and providing support to a hurting community.
The event also showcased a videos made by the digital media students about their own experiences on sexual assault and video messages for Dolores Huerta.
“And it really wasn’t until I moved to another city that I realized how shelled off I really was, and coming back to the city, I always felt this need to embrace my will to share it with another person, especially another man, so that they don’t have to go through the same silent and raging torment that I went through here alone, and I feel bad for not being strong enough to help people like me.” an anonymous student shared in a video put together by the digital media program.
Since the report Delta was quick to take down or cover up any mention of Chavez and are now focusing on replacing them with images of the campesino movement as a whole.
