Cesar Chavez Part 5

0:07 Hi everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is Estoria's Unknown, a podcaster where we talk about Latin American history. Sometimes it's horrible and deals with heavy topics like racism, corruption, and genocide. But more than that, it talks about resistance, power and community. And Part five, Yeah or five? I who knew we were gonna have all these parts when we first sat down all those weeks ago. I couldn't. I couldn't have known. Wow, But this is the last part. I promise, this is it. I'm not tired of it. I'm not shocked every episode I'm shocked. I'm worried that parts went too far, were like I drug it out too long, and I included information that was like, oh, this is kind of boring. It was all interesting to me, and mostly this is what I wanted. This is the whole My whole purpose of this series was Parts four us the meat of the burger. Yeah this. I had no idea about any of this. So I ended Part four with the UfW executive board being taken to a board meeting. They had no idea. But this board meeting was at one of Synnon's compounds, and to me, it's unclear exactly how Sessa Chavis and Charles Detoric Dieteric, the leader of Synanon, became friends, how they connected, how they yeah, well, how they connected, how they got close to each other.

1:31 Is that's what I can't find because I did read that, you know, before it was a known cult, and what I will get into Synanon a little bit, so the people might not know what Synnon is, so I will describe it very briefly. But before I do that, it looks like Synnon had a clinic in Salinas and a lot of UfW members went there for medical help because they got it for free at the clinic of the And I'm like wondering if maybe that's how they met. But a lot of members did go to Synernon for medical care because they had a lot of clinics. Okay, that makes sense, But nobody knew how things were at Synanon.

2:17 The only one who had a little bit of an idea was Sisa Travis, so he knew. That makes it worse. I at first I found when you were gonna you were saying no one really knew the extent of it. I'm like, okay, well, I mean maybe that takes a little bit of the heat off of Sasad. But no, he knew parts of it. Yeah. So just like he knew a little bit about the wetline thing, he was just like enabling all of it. Wow, wow, exactly. So okay, So Synanon Synanon originally started as Tender Loving Care and it started in Santa Monica. And the founder, who likes to be called the Founder or Chuck, is Charles Dederic or Dieterrick. I'm not sure how to say his last name, but it's one of those two, for sure, didn't you know, I don't know, Okay, I didn't remember. I know I've heard his name for sure, but I don't remember. Yeah, so it was. It started as a drug rehab program, then involved into a cult. Yeah. It's described as one of the most dangerous and violent cults in America has ever seen. It started because the founder, Charles, was a member of AA Alcoholics Anonymous, and that wasn't culty enough for him, right, it wasn't culty enough. Plus also they didn't see they didn't help those that used drugs, those you know that were that's right, that's right. Yeah, they were not welcomed into alcoholics Anonymous because they felt like ding other issues are different. So then Charles started taking LSD at some point, and then he decided once he

3:47 once he started taking LSD, he decided that he needed his own program that would help those addicted to drugs, and so he that's how it started Tender Loving Care. He had he was going to help them, just like Alcoholic Anonymous helps alcoholics. He's like, I'm going to create a program to help drug addicts. And I know that's like that's term people use anymore, but I'm sorry, i can't remember what like people with substance us to shoots. Yeah, so that's so long, Yeah it is. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm going to use the right term. So that's when he created Tender Loving Care, and he you know, started by he coined the phrase today is the first day of the rest of your life when people came to him, and it gained a very significant following fast because yeah, who I mean, it starts off started off good, just so would want to help someone that's helping someone, right, Yeah, I'm not entirely sure how the name Synnon started, but Tender Loving Care became Cynernon in nineteen fifty eight and I don't know where the name comes from, but it started as a two year residential program, but then that evolved into like its members are not are never graduating because recovery is impossible, and then it it just got worse.

5:08 So he it started as like this little place, and then he started buying more and more property. So then it became like a commune, not community, but a commune. There we go, commune. Commune, yeah, a commune. And then there was multiple communes, which they call compounds. So the main one was called the Home and it was again may have started out with the intention of trying to help drag God expect suit it. It didn't. It wasn't that it was a cult, a full blown cult. After a while, like towards this end or even the middle, it wasn't even like people who needed help were joining center and on it. It was like just people getting involved in the cult. Like it wasn't even drug users were not the members anymore. And they had invented this thing called uh the game mm hmm and so. And also by the end of it, they it was found that they had been involved in like there was abuse and there was crimes and yeah, all those cult things that happen in cults. So they the UfW members that went to the home is where the meeting was, the compound of Synanon. The home they didn't know, uh, why they were there was such a recruitment thing. No no, no, no, you'll find out. So they didn't know why they were there.

6:34 They didn't know Cynadon was a cult. The only one who kept in touch with Synnon and their leader was the surim Is. He deeply admired Charles because he wanted to have a cult like him. He looked up to him. He's like, he's doing great work. He felt that Chuck Charles was able to take Cynernon to the next level, that it had evolved from something that helped drug addicts to community quote unquote community slash cult. He uses community, I use culte yeah, potatoes potatoes you know. Yeah, and so he was like, I want to do what he did with s and on with the UFOQ. Yeah. Charles told the such time is that in order for him to do that, to take the UfW to the next level, he needed to weed out those who resisted change, hence the purgase. He also told them there was one thing instrumental to sin and on and why it was in such good order and that way the game, oh, the game which involves fear, and the game was presented as group therapy. In it, the players all accused. In the players all accused one another of their wrongs, and oftentimes there these wrongs would be exaggerated. One person was called down like at the same time, everyone would like gang

8:05 up on one person. The only way for that one person to escape from being like Yelda was to accuse someone else and then everyone else would then gang up on them. Yes. Yeah, supposedly it's like to correct faults and miscommunications, but really it's fucking terrible. Yeah, like emotionally abusive. Yeah. This is from a website called Playing the Game, and I believe that it's written by someone that had to do it because of the Elon school, So they wrote what is the game? Attack manipulation therapy. These coincide with the game, a toxic practice that is a foundational component of the trouble team industry. The game was created by synernon O cult masquerading under the guise of addiction treatment.

8:53 But how did the game become so common? A former person involved in Synernon created the Lan School. They were the first ones to use the game, which was then used all over these places, these the trouble team industry. Right, Okay, so yeah, the game was presented like as quote unquote therapy where Sennernon members who were quote unquote recovering or not, they're recovering addicts. They had to do the game three times a week. Charles again had no background in therapy or like anything. Yeah, this is not a real type of therapy. It's supposedly it was to help addicts, but it was really just and the Charles himself, Charles himself admitted to this, but he was just like brainwashing his people with the game. Also, secrets would come out during the game which could later be used on someone. Yeah, like held agains them. Yeah, and so the Elon School it ran from nineteen seventy twenty eleven, used the game regularly.

9:57 They called them general meetings or some shit. I don't know if they all the game, but yeah, they would be like a person would be replaced in front of the room and then everyone screamed at them, swore at them, threatened them. It's it's a terrible thing, like it's and so that's what the union members were there to learn. Oh, no, the game, because he believed the game would give him ultimate power and control. He believed the he believed the game was the key to getting the union in line. And yeah, it's it's a terrible thing. So Sessa, you know, took the board to that center, non compound to specifically learn the game. The board members had no idea what was about to happen. They didn't know again any that they were at a colts. They didn't know the game was going to happen. Only Charles and the synnon members knew that the union was there to learn the game.

10:56 So like like Marshall gans he, that's the same Marshall. Marshall gans he thought they were going to talk about they were going to do board things. So he was like, oh, I want to talk about focusing on vegetable workers in Selenas and the Imperial Valley at Les. So Medina was like, well, I want to talk about the vineyards and Oxnard. Like they all had this idea of what this meeting was going to be about. Once they all gathered, they were confused. When sus such I was was like, I'm not here to talk about all elections, contracts, nothing, none of that. Let's talk about all your flauds and secrets instead. Yeah. He told them they were there to discuss the union's philosophy and that they were going to learn from the Sinon family and they were going to learn something called the game. And then he said that it was time to decide if it was a movement or a union.

11:41 They needed to decide if they were going to run on volunteer work or volunteer work as a movement or pay wages as a union. But they couldn't afford that, and they also needed to pick. So he's telling them like, yeah, like we're going to be the only choices actually to be a movement. Yeah. Cohen, and like church Evis believed that they needed to pay people, but like so such, Chavis didn't want to pay anyone. He wanted to run a volunteer work. He wanted to be a movement. He want to be a cult work and colts don't pay members. Yeah, And he told them like, if the union doesn't get their shit together and if we don't become part of a movement or if we don't become a movement, I don't want part of it like I'm not and he would have often threaten to leave and wow, which shit like this happened. He also said that they were going to learn this and they were going to bring it back to LAPAs and they were going to do it.

12:30 So the you know, UfW board watched the centerne members do the game. They were invited to join in before the game started. They're like, you're gonna watch how it's done, but you can join in if you want. When the yelling began, Richard Travis walked out. He's like, no, I'm not doing it. Oh wow. He's like I may cheat on my wife all the time, but this is not it. Yeah. Wow. This took like two hours, and then Charles spent another two hours explaining to the Boar and Sinsar Chavis how he scored everyone during the game and like what the purpose was, blah blah blah. He just spent out, like so this is like four hours now, and then he said that they were trained twelve UfW members in the game, and then Sussar Chavis announced that everyone who moved into La Pass after March first, nineteen seventy seven had to participate in the game. Anyone who lived there before that had a choice. Wow. None of the board members like this.

13:30 No one but Richard, who actually walked out, you know, objected to it. Gans Marshall Gans said it didn't seem like the best use of their time. But other than that, no one said anything. Wow. They left the Synanon compound and Sisar chavis motor letter to Charles about how much he deeply admired him and what he was doing with Synanon. Again, it's a cult because he wanted a cult. He wants a call and he doesn't want a union. Yeah. Charles Deneric even proposed opening a Synanon run compound for the USW. It actually never happened, but like good there was talks of it. Wow. The game though, that should have never been on the table. It shouldn't have been on the table the game though, that did happen at LAPAs oh Man.

14:16 To such, Javis handpicked the eleven that would be trained by Synernon in the game, and he carefully, like chose who was who was hand picked for this. He picked his most loyal like young believers that he felt could be groomed into becoming more loyal and faithful, just like a true culte leader. Yeah, like them was his son, Paul Chavis, his son in law. Oh my god, one of Richard's daughters, so his niece, one of the lotus words, his kids, his family. Yeah, all like you know, young adults that he could again groom. During this training, they all gained up on one of the Well, the game.

14:56 It was the game. So they gained up on Juaquin Woodham about how he had just gotten into college and so he was going to go to college, and so they berated him. They basically yelled at him about abandoning the union and how he could how he was choosing college over the union. And he ended up like crying in tears and he quit college and stayed with the Union. Oh my god, that's horrible. Yeah. And after that first session, like more and more were trained, and then there were different sessions of the game going on every Sunday. It got to the point where there was a wait list for people to participate in the game, and then there was multiple games happening at the same time, from nine to twelve on Sundays. That's too long. That's that's insane.

15:42 Richard Trevis and Helen Travis. That's the point to get everybody like, you know, like delirious. I guess because how long it takes, yeah, to find out weird information and then to manipulate to it. Just how like they sleep deprived cult members. It's like a control thing. Yeah, yeah, it's the same type of thing. Richard Chavis and Helen Chavis refused to participate, and then like so that was the game, and the game was supposed to be separate. But then board meetings started getting more and more tens and kind of taking the tone of the game. Wow. During every meeting there was a fight between Sasar Chavis and dol Rees Buerta where she'd threatened to quit. Then people other people already wanting to quit, so such Chavas started talking less and less about farm workers during meetings because it was preoccupied with the game. Wow. He would also talk about how he didn't like trust farm workers at meetings like these because they only care about money. Hello, it's a union, but that's why he's trying to change it, like yeah, yeah, wow, And then he's like he would say things like that about farm workers at these meetings.

16:50 Then he would go in public to these public meetings and like safe face, yeah, and then he would say, oh, farm workers are the movement? Are the movement? Then hypocrite? But at these like you know, public meetings and rallies, he would leave out how he didn't want for workers to be part of the movement anymore. Yeah. Wow, He wanted to make it a religious movement or in other words, a cult. Yeah. And like any movement or group or cold, there needs to be festivities and holidays, like things for them to unite and celebrate. And of course this was such as his birthday, which became Founder's Day. When you say, when you say child's Day was celebrated in the Union, first, it's not what I expected, isn't that? Yeah? Oh my god, I cannot Yeah. Yeah. So March thirty first, nineteen seventy seven was the first Founder's Day. On that day there was Mariacci sinking les Magnita Stu sesa. This is so normal.

17:56 The whole community that live Da la Pas was all there to sing him Man's at six am a little less normal. Everyone had to be there. Then they all had bandus and coffee together. That sounds nice, that's nice. Yeah. Then at noon there was a special mass for everyone. So yeah, he was turning fifty. This coincided with the first Founder's Day, and so there was a memo sent out to all the UfW staff. This memo said that this was a day to celebrate the founding of the union because it is the day that the Chavis family left the CSO and came to Delano to start the UfW. Again, this is a lie. They didn't. He didn't, right, he didn't, Quito, it doesn't match the miss making, you know what I know.

18:45 This memo also said that it was a time of memory and celebration for all offices and groups. Everyone had to participate. They also had to spend an hour learning the real history of the union and conducting conducting sue religious celebrations. Yeah that's like yeah, and Founder's Day was just the beginning. Yeah, says I. Was announced that the sorry if you can hear my children, so that says starch. I was announced that the UfW needed their own mecca forty acres and LAPAs that was not enough. He talked about buying land in ox nerd ox nerd ox nerd. I don't know, I always say in Spanish ox mad Yeah, it's one of those places that I just say wrong.

19:30 And then one of them people came up on me on to talk like that because that's fucking Mexican. Sorry, God, all right, So he was going to buy land that would be the location of this new religious order, which he called menos Why for the least? Yeah, So he took that from the Gospel of Matthew. And I guess part of that says, and I don't ask know what it means, but part of that says, inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done right and wrong. It's probably what it says. But you know, it's one of those things that like that, first of all, do that makes sense?

20:17 But like religious people are always taking like little phrases from the Bible, taking out a context, and then like doing weird ship with it, you know what I mean, Like this whole thing like have you heard yoked? I'm equally yoked? Like what the fuck? What does that mean? Actually? I don't remember I saw it in a video, Okay, equally yoked. Yeah, I like vaguely remember what it means, but I can't explain it. Like yeah, like like everyone, it means something. It's like something about being equally religiously spiritually balanced that was like your partner or something like, oh, like I don't know. Yeah, and if I'm that wrong, I don't give book. But there's a bunch of like little things like that that they say, like the one I told you before, like of this world but not part of it, like because they think that they're better than everybody. Yeah, you know what I mean. Yes, and they want their own Christian shift for everything, including the government that we all have right and we don't want that. Yeah.

21:19 So that's where name. That's where that name came from. Do not ask me what it means. I truly don't understand that. I reread that ship like three times and I'm like, what does this mean? I don't know, like okay, okay, and I couldn't tell you still after like looking at it, like what the fuck? I don't know. But that's where he got the name Los Menos of the New Religious Order. All of this is just insane to say, I'm you know what, I regret learning all of this. I'm signing off now. I'm actually am ending this meeting. Bitch. So Los Minos. He wanted everyone at Los Manos to they would all live in this land right, and they all had to work for the UfW for free, like a cult. Yeah, and so all this was supposed to be like a safe haven for farm workers and like, this plan was for farm workers to live there. But after he went to center and on like a few more times, then it changed and the goal wasn't even like farm workers, was just like people who needed help would live there.

22:35 But he never said farm workers by name anymore, Oh my god. And so then he started he started using money that the UfW received from MLK Martin Luther King's Trust Fund, money that was supposed to fund the education services for farm workers and farm worker wages for this model community safe haven slash courts he wanted to create. It's like em bezzling. Yeah. He was also using this money to fix up rooms in Lapace to use for the game. Oh my god, remodeling for the for cult purposes on, Like the kitchen was still run down, but they needed a nice room for the game. What the fuck insane? And so after he announced those minos and what he wanted to do, then there was an official uf W prayer, a United Farmworker prayer that was created.

23:39 Showed me the suffering of the most miserable, so I may show you. Oh sorry, so I may know my people's plate, but not if they're undocumented. No. I also note that it doesn't say farm worker anywhere. Oh that's right, I'm just saying. And then this prayer was published in the new newspaper, which was no longer in Malcriado. It was the President's Newsletter, which sounds culty. I've been rewatching The Walking Dead and it just makes me think of like if the governor had a newsletter in his little town, he would call it. It would be called Governor's newsletter. Yeah, and this is the president's newsletter. Newsletter. God, I feel like I'm saying that word weird. I didn't know what it is. Okay. Well, after this, Sessa Chavis became less and less involved with the inner workings of an actual union, contracts, things like that. He didn't want to be he didn't want none of it. He was preoccupied with his little religious movement and the game. He would like talk about who to pin against who, who to pin against each other, like in the game, during the game, what policies to bring up during the game, and so yeah, it's like absolutely out of control. It used to be that the game was reserved for Sundays, but then it was also done on Wednesday evenings and this ship was taking up like hours of everyone's time. Wow, hundreds were participating in

25:13 the game, and so start kept the list of who didn't do it cold behavior came ok, including Richard Chavis. He still didn't want to do it. He still wasn't participating. So such I was were told Richard like, this is all part of the community, and you're part of the community. You have to do this. And Richard's like, no, I don't want part of this. Like wow, And then so much I was were starting naming communities like and how they're better like sit and on. Jim Joel Colts got maybe. I was like oh and then like uh. Jim Drake, another longtime member of the United farm Workers was like, you scare me when you say those names, the names of those losers, that's me. Little says that, that's me. Basically, he's like, those are just bad losers, including Synanon losers. Yes, and you know, people were worrying about SASA and this it is very worrisome. I don't know. I'm just so like I'm making a lot of jokes, but I feel like it's so sad that somebody that I don't know could have done so much and did so much, but all of this stuff just tarnishes that. And someone who was just so I don't know, like crazy for power that just it went beyond could have stopped. He could have listened to the many people who were like just doing work. Yeah, and then it got worse. So in

26:50 the summer of nineteen seventy seven, Sisar Travis was invited to the Philippines by Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna ask, do you know who Fernanda? This is why Larry couldn't stand this man. So okay, so let's backtrack. Let's backtrack a little bit. So the UfW elections, they were always losing the Filipino vote. And one person who had been an early board member of the National Pharmacris Association if we remember them, this was the Filipino union that merged with the UfW. So he was an early board member and he suggested a trip to the Motherland and he said he would arrange everything. So really he's the one who arranged this trip. The board, after hearing about this, advised him it was a bad idea because the Marcos regime was involved in human rights violations, and it was like, hey, hey, you know there's a there's a dictatorship going on right now. Yeah, just for me, you Yeah, And they told him and he didn't listen.

27:59 He went anyway, Sis such Javis went and when he returned, says such Javis praised the Marcos regime. He was amazed by martial law and applauded the president, the dictator. It doesn't shocked me, but at the same time, it does because this is very in line with his beliefs. Right if you heard about this before listening to part five here or even part four, yeah, I would be shocked. But but now, I mean people who want crave control power for themselves, Reverew written others too, Yes, and that's exactly what was happening here. And he made his uh praise for the Marcus regime public. I think it was like the Washington Post that he told Why would he go around telling people? But wow, yeah, okay, And so when they published this that he said this, people criticized him rightfully, so yeah, and then he doubled down. Oh my god, I just this is like somebody I don't know some Oh never, min, I'm not going to go on with that. I was gonna say, it's you know, it doesn't matter. We were gonna say, you were like watching some win turned little fucking crazy like irl, like we're watching it play out. No, I was gonna say, it's like somebody who's like a huge like activist praising and going on the free trip. Oh but we know that's happened well this, yeah, but yeah, right, it's the same, Okay.

29:30 So he doubled down when people started criticizing. Like there was a a good friend of Fred Ross and longtime like believer involved in the Catholic Church who was in New York when he saw he read the Washington Post he called, says sad Or I don't remember he might have read that, but yeah, and he was like, it's I'm appalled by what I read. Please tell me that this is not true. I cannot believe that you, a man of like blah blah blah blah blah, would be saying this and says then a double down, he didn't respond to the letter. Instead at a meeting, I keep saying, meeting, but they're like public, right, Yeah, so I like this kind of rally at a Deleno high school. He doubled down, and he said, he announced that he wasn't praising martial law.

30:22 He was praising President Marcus Okay, which is not better the person who enacted Marshall. Yeah, it's not better. Then he further doubled down. That's like saying, you're you're against uh human rights and relations and mass incarceration, but you love bookle Like you're not praising the state of exception, you're just praising book. Yeah. It's it's literally the same thing. So then he doubled down more. He quadruple down. He said, when he was there, he didn't see any human rights violations, he didn't see any torture abuse, and so that's why he was like the influencer were taken to the she and yeah, or all the influencers to go to some places where they say it's so safe. Nanessa Hutchins went to the Philippines and Duarte yes, Mark you know, yeah, is that his name? Yeah, it is, yeah. Another it was like dictator family who's and and she you know, didn't speak out against him nothing, she yeah, yea, yeah, yeah that's what he did. And then when the when the attention, negative attention and criticism was too much, he simply just retreated into La Pass and didn't take any calls, no nothing. Now it would be an apology video, but an insincere one, of course, he I didn't think he would do one. He went to La Pass and just hit hit there. Wow. Then, you know, during all this,

31:57 there was more and more demands for the Union to do union things, and he refused to do anything. He just wanted to focus on his religious community thing, the cole. It got so bad that people that had been part of the UfW since the beginning for years, we're starting to resign. Jim Drake, Elisel Medina over half the lawyers. Because it was also over pay. They had asked for like a four hundred dollars increase yearly they made. These lawyers were making less than twenty thousand dollars a year.

32:38 So it was like all this was happening. But also because he was like, we're a movement now, my religious movement. We're not paying people were volunteers like so, you know, more mass quitting. And then even Helen had moved out at this point of Lapass his wife oh umms, wow, you know all this was getting to be a law But also she found a she was she was filling in for the secretary his secretary when she found a love letter written to Sis such I was by an eighteen year old. This man was fifty and this was like not unrequited or whatever the word is. No, No, this was really yeah, Oh my god, God, you can't see the Carmen. Is hu mean? I really just wait till next March. I'm buying some kind of T shirt.

33:36 I'm wearing it all day I'm working. Yeah. Yeah, because I'm divesting from such harvest day, I'm opposing it. Yeah yeah, and yeah, I mean you know same Yeah, a love letter from an eighteen year old bood he did have a relationship with Helen, asked secret Oh and also when Helen read this, she was inclined instead of typical Mexican old mom responds instead of confronting to such chavist about it, she was going to drive to I forget where the letter was written from. It's one of the It wasn't she go there? She was gonna go there from front the girl. Yeah, yes, I don't know. Is she the same age a sessa? No, she's eighteen no, no, no, Helen, Yes, there's like two women was going to go confront eighteen year old I'm sorry over what her husband was doing.

34:32 She I don't think she actually went, but she was like going to she was plenty of yet she asked, uh, the secretary if she had read other letters like this before, and secretary lied and said no, but really these letters were like super common and all the time, says she was cheat disgusted all the time. And apparently with young Oh that sounds so disgusting than his daughter. That is so fucking gross. That is so gross. Like cheating if it was women in his age is still wrong, right, but I wouldn't be as grossed out. Yeah, yeah, it's wrong. So there's like a huge power and balance here no matter who he's cheating with, because he is the literal leader of this movement and he is all these women he's sleeping with or I mean it's even hard to say women always they're eighteen though they're like, you know, there's there was no one under eighteen. Technically they're of age, yeah yeah, but their teen that's a huge gap. But like he's going to where the farm workers are at.

35:35 He is the leader of their union heroes, to the farm workers, or wherever he goes. It's it's wrong on so many levels. These letters were common, These affairs were common. Everyone knew about it, everyone lied. It was a well kept secret, like nobody said anything even though they knew he was doing this pretty much every like stop that was made like disgusting, extremely so she left us, though she did end up moving back a few months later. Anyway, you'd think the mask quitting Helen leaving would be a wake up call, but Sisa Travis's colt like behavior only worsened.

36:15 He took a six day mind control class in La. What the fucks is that? And after this mind control lesson, I'm so done. I wish we were recording video take it anywhere. So that's why we need to start. I know, I don't someone asked us to put it on YouTube. Yeah, okay, So after this mind control class, he announced that he could heal people with his hands. They're just I don't even have the words anymore. No, I know, I don't, I don't know, I don't. So while all this was going on, the Time magazine published a story about a Kooki cult. That's what they wrote. A cookie cult name Cookie Cookie like cookie like oh okay, okay, why yes, Yes, a kookie cult called synanon Time magazine and they talked about how the cult leader, Charles, had forced members to swap spouses, the they talked about the game, They talked about UH stories of members being forced to UH to be cast traded. And when the article came out, Charles asked called SASA up his old buddy Sessa Chavez, and he asked the Sachas to support them in a boycott against Time magazine, which says that agreed to and he was like, yeah, the story, this is just a vicious attack on Synernon. You know Cohen a long time, he's

37:51 like one of the lawyers. So he asked like, how can we even support this when it's been found that Cynonon is an armed camp with a bunch of weapons, and we're like four non violence? Yeah, what happened to that? Right? And t such I was just like, no, no, this is just an attack on religious freedom. We need to support the boycott of Time magazine. But then a little bit after the article came out November nineteen seventy eight, the LAPD rated the Synonyon compound because a month before that, the lawyer that represented ex Synnon members who were trying to sue Synanon was bitten by a rattleslink that had been left in his mailbox and that had been tied to Synnon. And so they found incriminating evidence that included Charles saying, don't mess with us, you can get killed dead, literally dead. And so Charles was arrested for attempted murder.

38:50 And then worse information was uncovered about Synanon, including the force you know, castrations, vasectomies, the tons of abuse, the sexual abuse, the everything. Everything keeps lying, So what since I have to say now? After this all became public, the UfW finally stopped playing the game and cut ties was sitting on. Took long enough, Yeah, but things didn't really get better. The UfW got involved in a melon strike in nineteen seventy eight, but by now they had lost most of its members, most of his contracts. During these strikes, picketers went into the fields to drive away those who were still working tried to. When a foreman opened fire and killed a picketer named Rufino Contreras, there was a huge funeral in his honor, rightfully so, and then after the funeral, there were more violent clashes between pictars.

39:44 It was a mess. And so on the second anniversary of Rufino Contreras's murder during a UfW meeting, Okay, well, let me back up a little bit. So such Aves had blamed Cohen and Gans the you know, we've said their name is a bunch, so I can't remember their first name, so I'm sorry. Yeah, they had been put in charge of this like campaign and they had like preemptively decided to strike or pick it or something, and so he blamed them for all of this. And around the same time, there was supposed to be a voting for new board members of the United farm Workers because you know, so many people had resigned or gotten fired, and so Sisa Jrvis wanted to put like his son, his son in law and someone else in the board in place. But there still needed to be a process.

40:37 There still needed to be a vote. But he didn't want this. He wanted to hit them people he picked. If those people got chosen, there would be no more farm workers on the board at all. That's ridiculous for United farm Workers. Yeah, and so Gans and Cohen suggested these three other people who had been farm workers, and you know, if you're electing board members there should be options. Yeah. But because they made these suggestions, in response, hardcore Chavistas passed out pamphlets and I hate this. They passed out pamphlets that read, the two Jews, Gans and Cohen are trying to undermine the Union. Oh my god, outside forces intend to force our presidents to start travist to resign.

41:27 The Jews want to take over the union, Gans and Cohen. The Jews God used our people to control the legal department and negotiators. This is bullshit. They think they are superior to Mexicans. I hate this. That's what they passed out in English and Spanish. Oh my god. Sorry who did these pamphlets? Sessa like Chiv hardcore Chavistas, his biggest appolicast. But he didn't stop them. He saw them, he saw these pamphlets, and he didn't stop it. Okay, So essentially co signing by not stopping it exactly exactly, like why would you want anti Semitism to be a part of your like campaign or whatever? Exactly. And so now there was allegations he was being called anti Semitic, rightfully, so he didn't stop this yeah, and I tried to confirm this, but the book didn't mention it, and nothing I looked up mention it either. But I believe that Gans and Cohen both resigned after this. Oh okay, but again they were like some of the very early, early early supporters of Cistar Chabbis, like it's just crazy. So yeah, they were.

42:36 I believe they were gone. CBS got word of this anti semitism and other fishy things going on, and they tried to do a piece on Sistar Chabist. So they went to La Pass to try and do an interview Whichessa had agreed to, but then he refused to speak with them, like alone, and he had like fifty people with him at all times. He's like, you can just do the interview in front of everyone. What's the issue. But it's like, come on, what do you mean. CBS did end up doing the story, even though he didn't really like cooperate, and they reported some very concerning things like the UfW receiving a seven hundred thousand, seven hundred Sorry I can't see big numbers, seven hundred and ninety six thousand dollars grant to develop a system to help rural people connect to health clinics and service centers, but like none of this existed, Like where did the money go?

43:23 Basically is what they were reporting. Wow. So fraud on top of everything else. Yeah wow. And then you know, around this time as well, Jimmy Carter lost the election. Ronald Reagan was president, and Jimmy Carter was like very keen on funding UfW projects like this and just giving them money for things, and Renald Reagan was like nope, and he took all that away. And then they demanded for the union to return two hundred fifty thousand dollars. So now they were like they couldn't afford this. Membership continue to decline. The union had to turn to other means of survival, like political funding and trying to get in with like I don't know, Democrats and stuff for things like that. Then in the nineteen eighties they got involved in commercial activities to raise funds. So this involved buying properties and renovating them and then selling them. But then the Fresnel b put out a paper where they revealed that these housing projects were all built by non union contractors, which is embarrassing as a union, that's embarrassing. Yeah, yeah, and since that was still like on the head of the cool. Yeah. Yeah, there were more purges after this, and by now it's like who's even left, Yeah, says sar Chavi started making rounds at colleges and universities that

44:57 paid him three eight hundred dollars per appearing, which he kept for himself. No, I mean I think like he was using it for the union, And it was always the same speech about problems farm workers faced. Again, he hadn't like in meetings mentioned farm workers in a long time, so he started going back to his roots then or what these publicly, Yeah, these speeches he talked about the dangers of pesticides, which yeah, those are real dangers, yes, And the union did start trying to do more, Like they put out a short documentary about the dangers of pest science and cancer and people were mad about it because they were like, didn't hold back during this documentary because yeah, okay, pesticides are very dangerous of farmworkers. Yeah.

45:41 There was even like some group of parents that tried to sue the uf W for the documentary that was aired because it was shown to their students kids at like a high school. High schools are old enough to see that. Yeah, yeah, So you know, they were going back to doing some things like that. Then in nineteen ninety two, the UfW found themselves in a legal battle with a grower named Bruce Church lettuce grower. He was doing them for libel and for illegally threatening supermarkets from selling trying to stop supermarkets from selling lettuce illegally. And so this case had been going on for a while already, and there was a lot of like retrials and shit like that. So then as part of this trial and April nineteen ninety three, it says that had to testify, and so he did his like day one of court, he did his day two of court and of part of this lawsuit, and then he went home or wherever this lawsuit was happening, he went to. I forgot to write it down bad, Like wherever he was staying for where this was happening, I write it down. So he was staying at like a UfW member's house during this and while he was he was supposed to be up.

46:55 You know, it was April twenty third, nineteen ninety three now, and he was in a way by nine am. He was a very early riser. So when he wasn't up by that time. Nine am. They finally went to go check on his room, and that's the when they found him dead. And I actually didn't know how he died. So he was sixty six. He was founded in his room. They did an autopsy which was a little inconclusive, but it was most likely that he died from an electrolyte imbalanced brought on by his recent fast Dude, they told him to stop fasting. Yeah, yeah, years ago. But anytime like there was like a pressure or like a court thing like his, he coped with it by fasting. I think so he would be like, it's bringing me clarity.

47:43 But also I think sometimes if it was bad enough, like his condition, it might like render sympathy from a judge, you know. Yeah, and they worked in the past. Yeah, so I'm like, why not right again, Well because you might die? And he did. Yeah, like he was older now and back then it had affected him so badly. Yeah, so that's probably what he passed away from. And his funeral, of course, was a huge deal. Like you know, regardless of everything we've shared in part four and five, he did really good things. Of course, the funeral was going to be huge. He left instructions for how and when he wanted to be buried. So he wanted like a simple casket, which Richard built himself. It took him like thirty eight hours to do it. He wanted to be buried next to his dogs in LAPAs, so I mean that's kind of sweet. It is also, I don't know if I've shared the dogs' names and all this have I I don't remember Boycott and welga oh, I love that honestly, the cutest things ever. There were ten thousand seats set up for the funeral, and that wasn't it.

48:48 That was not enough. That was that seated a fourth of the crowd that had gathered for the funeral. After this, of course, there was a more private funeral for his like closest family and friends, but there was a three mile funeral possession where one hundred and twenty pall bearers took turns carrying his coffin. Wow. And I mean, like we've been saying throughout this whole series, there's no denying his legacy. Yeah. Man, some of those things in parts four and five sucked truly, but we've reached the end. Wow. I feel like, if anything, this just goes to show like how flawed somebody can be, and that like we shouldn't put people on pedestals exactly exactly, like yeah, he did really good things, but man, some of the things were terrible, like the wetline, Oh my god. Yeah, and so it's just I don't know, it's like it's like you said, we shouldn't be putting people on pedestels because like I don't know, people get like it's like, okay, if we again, canceling isn't real. But if we quote unquote canceled so such habits thing, what like who do we look up to? Who do we who is you know, like because he's one of the only celebrated Latino people Latino man, I mean in the US. And it's like, personally,

50:19 I have canceled him. Yeah, I uh yeah, no same. And I'm not I'm not gonna go and demand him to not have names. No, no, I'm not gonna tell other people to cancel him. No, just personally, I will not be observing since Travis. They personally, Yeah, it's just too much. The bad is too much. Yeah, and I'm not saying that amazing things didn't happen. Yeah, but it wasn't only because of him, right, it was all the people that were involved in the movement. Yeah, and like at the end, you know, he wasn't even for the farm workers. Yeah, it was for himself. And that's what happened to me. You put people on pedestals. Yeah. Yeah, but we have reached our the end of our saga saga, saga, saga.

51:05 I don't know, I'm sure I said it wrong. Wow, well, man, do you have anything to say before we think? No? I don't think so. Again. The book was The Crusades Crusade of Sisa Chavez by Miriam Powell. Reading them, I even left out a lot, like I couldn't, I could not include at all. That was my main source. But everything has linked in the show notes of course, and the name of the book is there. But man, yeah, I just I was shocked, like just you know, obviously you're not going to tell elementary school teacher or elementary school kids about this, but but like it's just it's like it's partially like damn, well, what do we have left?

51:51 But but it all goes to say, like you said, like we don't need heroes. Yeah. Yeah, at the end of the day, the UfW is like nowhere near the numbers that they were, and like farm workers are still so vulnerable, but they're still doing great things. Oh yeah, no, they are still doing work to help them. They don't have the reach they used to in the in the in it's prime, but like we can still try, as you know, me and you like to do things to support farm workers. Like if there's you know, a vote we need to do like to help them, yeah, let's do it. If there's funds we need to like help donate to, yeah, let's let's do it. Because yeah, they're they're the ones who deserve this. Like it's like that quote or slogan they feed America. Farmers don't feed America right right, Like small time farmers are not even the thing right with farmers are like corporation backed. Yeah, and we don't support corporations around here, right right. Farm workers keep America fed. Yeah, And honestly, like marchal Fair should be farm Worker Day, That's what I'm calling it in my head. Yeah, and I will be like you know, on all days, but especially that day, looking for ways to like you know, support but yeah, but yeah, usually usually especially when school is starting and in like cities like Fresno, Salina, you can find like like, oh, we're

53:22 doing a school drive to help farm worker kids get this or this or that. You can usually find those very easily. So you know things like that. It's more important than like, I don't know, honoring to such travest to me. I agree, I agree. So yeah, that's that's all I have to say. Okay, no, no, I'm hungry. I'm yeah for two hours though you don't know it because it's gonna be part yeah, but yeah, okay, shut yes, chat that you get to hear the whole thing. Thank you everyone for listening. Great review generously recommend us to spend too long on their friends. Christina's brain, So that's I was killed. Nah, I'm just kidding. Oh my god. Anyway, we hear us, so you rotten? Sorry, no, let's stop.

54:12 We hope this was one less you study unknown for you, goodbye bye