Hunter sparks debate with criticism of
César Chávez
Labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez (Ferris State University )
A seemingly benign decision to name a Navy cargo ship after the late labor leader and Navy veteran César Chávez drew ire Tuesday from Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, who said there are more deserving candidates. His criticism quickly spurred a national debate, including rebuttals from Chávez defenders who said the honor is appropriate.
César Chávez drew ire Tuesday from Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, who said there are more deserving candidates. His criticism quickly spurred a national debate, including rebuttals from Chávez defenders who said the honor is appropriate.
“Naming a ship after César Chávez goes right along with other recent decisions by the Navy that appear to be more about making a political statement than upholding the Navy’s history and tradition,” Hunter, a Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in a statement.
He said a better choice could have been the late Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a Navy Cross recipient, or the late John Finn, a Pearl Harbor vet who received the Medal of Honor. Both men lived in San Diego County.
Those who knew Chávez personally or have studied his life applauded the choice.
“He is arguably the most revered Latino American in the United States, and his contributions to equality and justice for one of our most vulnerable work forces make him a hero in the eyes of Hispanics and Americans of other backgrounds,” said Abel Valenzuela, chairman of the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies at the University of California Los Angeles.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who names all ships for the service, is expected to formally announce the naming today during a visit to the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard. The company is building the César Chávez, the last in a line of 14 resupply ships.
Navy officials declined to comment on Hunter’s remarks. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., commended Mabus for his decision Tuesday.
NASSCO spokesman James Gill said the company suggested Chávez in honor of its majority Latino workforce and its location in Barrio Logan. About 60 percent of NASSCO’s 3,600 employees are Latinos.
In 2009, when Mabus dubbed the 13th resupply vessel the Medgar Evers after the late civil rights leader, he said the ships “are traditionally named for famous American pioneers, explorers and visionaries. They celebrate the dreams and bold action of the American spirit.”
Gus Chavez of San Diego, a Navy veteran and Latino rights activist who is not related to the farmworker rights pioneer, said “the naming of a cargo ship in honor of César Chávez is very much in line and compliance with the history of naming naval ships.”
Tony Kvaric, chairman of the San Diego County Republican Party, said: “While I agree with congressman Hunter that other individuals’ names would have been more fitting, I respect the Navy’s decision.”
Chávez, born in 1927 in Arizona, gained national prominence when he mobilized thousands of migrant farmworkers in the 1960s and ’70s and led boycotts of grape farmers across the country. His actions led to union contracts and labor rights for field workers.
About a year after Chávez died in 1993, President Bill Clinton recognized him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“He was always uncomfortable being singled out for praise because he knew there were many César Chávezes who achieved great things and made many sacrifices,” said Marc Grossman, a longtime aide to Chávez. “The Chávez family is acknowledging this (latest) honor in the name of all Latinos who helped build this country and served America in the military.”
Early on in his organizing career, Chávez took a strong stance against illegal immigrant workers because he felt they harmed union efforts by being strike breakers. Later that position softened, around the time of the Chicano Movement of the late 1970s, said David Gutierrez, vice chairman of the history department at the University of California San Diego.
“There was a broadening perspective of the workforce — the big recognition that we are all in this together,” Gutierrez said.
Chávez, a third-generation American, served in what was still a segregated Navy from 1946 to 1948 and referred to those years as some of his toughest. Grossman said Chávez considered that time a learning phase.
Staff writer Gary Robbins contributed to this report.
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