Trump's beliefs often mirror Cesar Chavez's
SAN JOSE -- Mexican-Americans are doing a stint in our own version of purgatory. It's called the Trump Era.
After all, Donald Trump's ascension into the world of politics -- his campaign, election and presidency -- has been filled with mean-spirited insults toward Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.
And on March 31, what would have been the 91st birthday of one of our most iconic figures, Cesar Chavez, Mexican-Americans must stomach the crushing irony that the farm labor leader's anti-immigrant nativism and "America First" protectionism were early precursors to much of President Trump's agenda.
The story of Chavez and the United Farm Workers union he helped start is a tale that I know quite well -- perhaps too well.
As a native of the San Joaquin Valley, I was raised an hour's drive from the town of Delano, which was ground zero for the UFW. Both my parents, and all four of my grandparents, picked fruits and vegetables. I've been studying, writing and speaking about Chavez and the union for more than 25 years. I have had separate and ugly confrontations with Chavez and UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta. I've seen the legend and the lore up close, warts and all.
Meanwhile, as a journalist, I've covered Trump since he came down the escalator at Trump Tower in June 2015, declared his candidacy, and said that my Mexican grandfather came to this country with "lots of problems" and brought crime and drugs. I've called Trump a racist, a bully and a demagogue. Then I got mean.
So, believe me: If this were Star Wars, Chavez would be telling Trump, in the voice of James Earl Jones: "Donald, I am your father."
Trump thinks a lot about the U.S.-Mexico border. So did Chavez, who observed: "As long as we have a poor country bordering California, it's going to be very difficult to win strikes."
Trump is hostile to competition. So was Chavez, who used strikes to rig the law of supply and demand so that growers had to use laborers represented by the UFW.
Trump thinks that immigrants hurt U.S. workers by taking jobs and lowering wages. So did Chavez, who tried to protect union members by ridding the fields of non-unionized immigrant farm workers through what he called the "Illegals Campaign." It used intimidation, violence, calls to immigration agents to report undocumented immigrants, and demands that those who crossed the picket line be arrested and deported.
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