The farmworker leaders you should know — not named César Chávez
Your morning catch-up: The UFW leaders you haven’t heard of, California is cracking down on suspicious luxury car sales and more big stories.
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The allegations that venerated labor leader César Chávez sexually assaulted teenage girls and also his longtime collaborator Dolores Huerta arrived like an earthquake. As the reverberations continue two weeks later, people who grew up in the farmworker movement are demanding another historical course correction.
They want greater recognition given to the many others who led the fight to win better wages and working conditions for some of America’s poorest people. High on that list would be Larry Itliong and Al Rojas.
Itliong died in 1977 and Rojas in 2021, but their children have been working hard to make sure their contributions are not forgotten. Chávez’s fall from grace created a moment for that message to get through.
Rojas’ daughter Desirée launched a website celebrating her father long before the New York Times broke the news that her older sister, Debra, had gone public with her account of being sexually preyed upon by Chávez when she was a teenager.
Itliong’s son, Johnny, has done nearly 20 interviews in recent days, assisted by the Asian Civil Rights League, in telling the world how his father began fighting for workers’ rights almost from the moment he got off the boat from the Philippines in 1929.
Organizing longshoremen, asparagus pickers and grape field workers
The elder Itliong hopped from town to town on the West Coast, organizing longshoremen in Seattle and asparagus pickers near Stockton. It was in the grape fields of the Coachella Valley in 1965 that the feisty, cigar-chomping Itliong and his allies made one of their biggest impacts — launching a strike to demand higher wages. A thousand workers under the banner of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee walked out. The wage increase they won marked a watershed, showing other poor workers that they could win through collective action.
That momentum carried on to Delano, which would become the epicenter of the farm labor movement. Many Filipino laborers moved north with the grape harvest and they soon called a strike and persuaded another organization, the National Farm Workers Assn., to join the walkout. Chávez headed the NFWA. The alliance led to the birth of the United Farm Workers of America, which would win some of the first contracts for agricultural workers in North America.
Though some UFW hagiographies leave little room for the Filipino leaders, even Chávez’s son Paul conceded how important their work had been. “They set the stage for everything,” the younger Chávez said in an interview, 40 years after the grape strike. “Nobody showed the kind of conviction these men did.”
The city of Delano named a park for Itliong. Union City named a middle school for him and another of the Filipino labor leaders, Phillip Vera Cruz. Itliong’s son Johnny said the renaming of other places would be fine, but that’s not his focus. He said his father would want a more universal message. Said Itliong, a former farmworker who now lives in Santa Monica: “His purpose was to raise everybody up.”
Rojas’ daughter Desirée feels much the same way. She was not even school age when her entire family moved to Pittsburgh in the late 1970s to support the UFW’s nationwide grape strike. They arrived with $50, their clothing stuffed in paper grocery bags, she recalled in an online homage to her father.
A migrant farmworker raised in Visalia, Al Rojas later ran a group called Citizens Against Poverty in Oxnard and kick-started an early union for field workers (the United Farm Workers Independent Union) that would merge with what became the UFW.
Organizing workers south of the border
Al Rojas also won acclaim for organizing workers in Mexico, believing that workers on both sides of the border had common interests. That differed vastly from Chávez, who disdained immigrants, believing their cheap labor held American-born workers back.
Desirée Rojas hasn’t given many interviews, unlike her friend Johnny Itliong. She hopes people will visit her website and understand the farmworker crusades were much bigger than César Chávez or any one individual.
“My mother and father taught us that helping other people is the greatest gift you can give, while teaching any person to do the same on this planet to create a ripple effect,” she said. “We have not forgotten that.”
Today’s top stories
California cracks down on suspicious luxury car sales
- Luxury car buyers in California and other states have been buying their vehicles in Montana, which has no sales or personal property tax.
- State officials have identified 500 dealers involved in 2,500 suspicious luxury car sales since 2023, costing California more than $10 million annually in lost tax revenue.
Why PayPal is struggling
- PayPal’s stock has dropped as it faces a slowdown in branded checkout and more competition from Apple and Google.
- With a new chief executive at the helm, the company sits at another turning point.
Trump’s speech on the Iran war
- President Trump’s meandering speech on the Iran war did little to assuage U.S. allies and world markets concerned about the conflict’s ongoing disruptions to the global oil supply.
- Oil prices surged after the address as Trump deflected responsibility for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to other nations.
What else is going on
- Californians say democracy is in peril and the state should enact voting rights protections, a poll shows.
- Trader Joe’s is expanding with two new locations in California.
- Downtown L.A.’s cratering real estate market is changing — rich renters are buying their buildings.
- Throw away these Walmart dino-shaped chicken nuggets. They may contain lead.
- Trump fired Pam Bondi after a tumultuous 14-month term as attorney general.
Commentary and opinions
- You know the political silly season is upon us when campaigns start to make fools of themselves trying to court Latino voters, writes columnist Gustavo Arellano.
- From Columbus to Chávez: Columnist Patt Morrison writes about L.A.’s disappearing, disfigured and displaced statues.
- A proposed new “fix” for Social Security? Columnist Michael Hiltzik explains how that harms workers and protects the rich.
This morning’s must read
Pedro Moura and a group of roughly 30 people walked all 14.5 miles of Santa Monica Boulevard as they continue their quest to do big walks, following entire lengths of Los Angeles streets.
Other must reads
- A California 8-year-old designed a “zero gravity indicator” used in Artemis II moon mission.
- Track your steps? Here’s a less obvious way to improve your health.
For your downtime
Going out
- Hikes: Here’s a canyon near L.A. that offers hikes with shade, wildflowers and wildlife.
- Literary events: Here are 16 ways to experience L.A.’s electric literary scene this spring, from independent book fairs to poetry workshops.
Staying in
- Books: Here are 10 books to read in April, including Jay McInerney’s latest and a Rolling Stones bio.
- TV and film: The Zendaya-thon is upon us: The actress will star in several highly anticipated TV and film projects this year, ranging from “Euphoria” to “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
- Recipe: Here’s a recipe for chocolate creme eggs.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.
And finally ... your photo of the day
Today’s great photo is from contributor Alexandra Garry at Hermosa Beach, where a fisherman freed a juvenile great white shark caught on a fishing line.
Experts expect a surge in shark sightings due to unseasonably warm SoCal waters and a strong El Niño.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.
An earlier version of this newsletter identified Larry Itliong’s son as Bobby. The son’s name is Johnny.
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