ArcaMax

I've confronted Huerta about all this. She angrily denies it ever happened. Memory is an odd thing. This 85-year-old claims she doesn't remember anything the UFW ever did wrong. She also doesn't remember ever using the word "wetback" to describe illegal immigrants whom she today refers to as "undocumented workers."

Yet a 1969 article in the Lodi News-Sentinel quotes Huerta talking about "a detention camp for wetbacks" who worked in the fields. Years later, she suggested that the reporter had inserted the word in the story.

However, Huerta has perfect recall about the good that Hillary Clinton supposedly did in 1972 when, as a student at Yale Law School, she registered Mexican-American voters in South Texas.

The problem for Huerta is that there are plenty of Latinos out there with better memories.

Remember this: No one is off-limits to criticism. Huerta and Dawson both have the right to pick their candidates. Latinos will never advance until we learn to tolerate different points of view.

Besides, in politics, these things work themselves out. In 2008, while supporting Clinton, Huerta attacked Barack Obama as a "Johnny-come-lately" to Latino concerns.

Sound familiar? Still, Huerta was right. Obama has been terrible for Latinos. But he does know how to cover his tracks, as he did in 2012 when he gave Huerta the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which she proudly accepted.

And to think, some people are attacking Dawson in order to defend Huerta's honor. At this point, how much is left to defend?

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.

Copyright 2016 Washington Post Writers Group