Hunter blasts Navy decision to name ship after Cesar Chavez
North County Times – The Californian
Rep. Duncan Hunter on Tuesday blasted the Navy for naming a new cargo ship built in San Diego after United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez and is taking heat from critics in return.
Hunter, whose district includes the Ramona and Poway areas, said the naming advocated by the shipbuilder was an affront that ignored more deserving candidates.
"Naming a ship after Cesar Chavez 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, R-El Cajon, said in a prepared statement.
Chavez served a two-year hitch in the Navy after World War II.
Hunter’s comment prompted outrage among some Latinos, including Marc Grossman, spokesman for the Sacramento-based Cesar Chavez Foundation.
Grossman pointed out that another ship of the same class of Navy cargo vessels is named after the slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who served in the Army during World War II.
"Is he also objecting to that?" Grossman asked.
Chavez was a trailblazing leader in the farmworker rights movement, forming the United Farm Workers in the early 1960s to address poor working conditions and low wages for farmworkers. He died in 1993 and was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Bill Clinton in 1994. The state recognizes his birthday as a holiday.
Grossman said Chavez family members and the foundation consider the ship’s naming a recognition of all Latinos.
"Cesar Chavez refused most personal awards when he was alive because he felt very uncomfortable being singled out for praise because he felt there were countless other men and women who made great sacrifices but whose names are lost to history."
Gus Chavez, a retired San Diego State University administrator and longtime Latino activist, said Hunter should be embarrassed by his comments.
"I consider them to be extremely un-American," said Chavez, who is not related to Cesar Chavez. "I am a Navy veteran and I’m stunned that he’s actually taken this position —- it is beyond the pale."
Navy officials declined to comment on Hunter’s statement.
Mary Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO, said the company suggested naming the ship USS Cesar Chavez in recognition of its Latino workers. The company had other suggestions, she said, but Chavez was at the top of its list.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is scheduled to announce the naming on Wednesday when he visits NASSCO in San Diego’s Barrio Logan.
Hunter, a Marine Corps veteran of two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, said he believes there are other Latinos who should have been considered.
"If this decision were about recognizing the Hispanic community’s contribution to our nation, many other names come to mind, including Marine Corps Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who was nominated for the Medal of Honor for action in Iraq."
Peralta was a San Diego native who died in 2004 during an assault in Fallujah, Iraq, where his squad mates say they saw him deliberately scoop a grenade to his body to shield the blast.
Hunter also said the Navy apparently didn’t consider naming the ship after John Finn, a San Diego resident awarded the Medal of Honor for heroic action at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese assault that thrust the U.S. into World War II.
"Another worthy candidate that was evidently overlooked in the selection process," said Hunter, who last year asked the Navy to name a ship after Finn.
Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper said his boss was notified of the Navy’s decision on Monday.
Kasper said Hunter thinks the Navy "missed a perfect opportunity to name a ship after a war hero like Peralta who is best suited to have a ship named after them rather than after a Hispanic activist."