Key Point: “When we saw Bobby Kennedy begin to use images of my father, and then when we heard about this event in L.A., it really prompted us to stand up and to make sure that people understood that the Chavez family does not support his campaign.”

Los Angeles Times: Cesar Chavez’s family wants nothing to do with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign

By: Benjamin Oreskes

• “When we saw Bobby Kennedy begin to use images of my father, and then when we heard about this event in L.A., it really prompted us to stand up and to make sure that people understood that the Chavez family does not support his campaign,” Paul Chavez, Fernando’s brother, told The Times.

• “We’ve never seen anybody go as far as using that image for political gain,” Andres Chavez, Paul’s son, said of Kennedy’s campaign event invitation. Fernando and Paul, as well as Andres — who runs the National Chavez Center in Keene, Calif. — said they are endorsing President Biden for reelection, and that if Cesar were alive, he would do the same.

• Biden keeps a bust of the labor leader in the Oval Office, and Chavez’s granddaughter Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who once organized strawberry pickers and later worked for President Obama, now serves as Biden’s campaign manager.

• Relatives of Chavez said it was painful to speak out because the Kennedy and Chavez clans remain closely connected — apart from Kennedy Jr.

• Now, with the 2024 presidential election just months away, Chavez family members said they fear that in a close contest, any support for Kennedy could help Republican Donald Trump regain the White House. “I’m kind of horrified and saddened about that,” said Fernando Chavez, who added that he hasn’t stayed in touch with Kennedy Jr. since they worked together decades ago.

• Fernando and others pointed [out] how badly farmworkers were hit by COVID-19, partly fueled by rampant disinformation among Latinos about the vaccine’s efficacy. The Cesar Chavez Foundation worked to vaccinate farmworkers, Andres Chavez said, and Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccines horrified him.

• “When Trump and Kennedy were spreading misinformation about vaccines in the pandemic, people were dying,” Andres Chavez said. “I don’t think my grandfather would stand by anybody who would be spreading this misinformation — knowing that farmworkers and Latinos were among the most impacted.”