Kennedy legacy with farmworkers fails to light a fire with RFK Jr.’s presidential run | Opinion

You don’t have to dig far in the San Joaquín Valley to find the iconic Kennedy DNA on the farmworker movement.

That marriage was consummated in March 1966 when then-Sen. Robert F. Kennedy showed up in Delano and eviscerated the Kern County sheriff for jailing supporters of the fledgling United Farm Workers on grounds they were preparing to riot or cause trouble.

“Could I suggest in the interim period of time, in the luncheon period of time, that the sheriff and the district attorney read the Constitution of the United States,” the former U.S. attorney general suggested.

Farmworkers — who had for years placed portraits of President John F. Kennedy alongside the cherished Virgin of Guadalaupe at their homes — found a hero in RFK, who accompanied UFW founder César E. Chávez when he ended a 25-day hunger strike in 1968.

“He sort of capitulated our work into the national scene, so to speak,” said UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta in a recent interview. “That really put the UFW on the national level.”

That love for the Kennedys, apparently, hasn’t trickled down to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign.

It’s not that RFK Jr. — who was 14 when he was a pallbearer at Chávez’s 1993 funeral — is a stranger to farmworkers. He held hands with Chávez’s widow, Helen, in a 2015 visit to historic Forty Acres just west of Delano to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the grape boycott.

He joined then-UFW President Arturo S. Rodríguez in 2017 at the federal courthouse in Fresno to rail against pesticide use that harmed farmworkers and pushed for immigration reform.

RFK Jr., a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, pointed to his long-standing relationship with the UFW while speaking at the final day of the recent National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in New York.

That history, however, has failed to generate little if any support from farmworker leaders.

“The United Farm Workers has not received an endorsement request from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” said Antonio De Loera-Brust, the union’s communications director. “The farm worker movement continues to appreciate and benefit from generations of warm support, friendship, and leadership from the Kennedy family.”

De Loera-Brust, in an email, noted the union “has worked closely with President Biden.”

The president, he said, “has consistently fought for farm workers: from expanding rural farm worker access to COVID-19 vaccines, to voicing support for California strengthening farm worker unionization rights last year, to expanding deferred action to protect immigrant workers involved in labor disputes from deportation.”

Huerta, now director of her own foundation and a frequent go-to for candidates seeking her blessing, was lukewarm about RFK Jr. during a recent chat.

“I can’t speak for him or say why he’s running,” said Huerta, who ran into RFK Jr. at a recent memorial for longtime United Auto Workers executive Paul Schrade. “I’m sure that he has issues that he wants to bring to the forefront and the public.”

That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.

“We haven’t officially endorsed anybody, but, you know, we’ve been supporting President Biden,” said Huerta.

Why not?

Perhaps because Chávez’s granddaughter is campaign manager for Biden, who placed a bronze bust of the farmworker icon in the Oval Office. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden visited Forty Acres last year.

RFK Jr., who is polling at 17%, hasn’t exactly made it easy with remarks that have found more of an audience with the MAGA folks than with Democrats.

Party leaders blistered him last week before the House Judiciary Committee for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and making racist comments against Jews and Blacks. The environmental lawyer denied making those comments, although they were captured on video.

Dolores?

“I don’t know what basis he has for saying that,” said Huerta.

Juan Esparza Loera is editor of Vida en el Valle.