California to rename Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day following sexual abuse allegations

United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta, centre, leads a rally in San Francisco's Mission District on Nov. 19, 1988, along with Howard Wallace, president of the San Francisco chapter of the UFW, left, and Maria Elena Chavez, 16, the daughter of Cesar Chavez, right, as part of a national boycott of what the UFW claims is the dangerous use of pesticides on table grapes. (AP Photo/Court Mast)

PHOENIX -- Two of California’s top lawmakers announced Thursday they want to rename Cesar Chavez Day following stunning abuse allegations against the revered labour leader.

Political leaders in states and cities are considering similar moves after the allegations became public, accusing Chavez of sexually abusing girls and the co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America union, Dolores Huerta.

There have been calls to alter memorials honouring the man who in the 1960s helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and has been long revered by many Democratic leaders in the U.S.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office said Thursday that he won’t issue a proclamation honouring Cesar Chavez Day this year. The California Museum said it will remove Chavez from the state’s Hall of Fame. Celebrations of Chavez in Texas and in his home state of Arizona have been cancelled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.

In 2000, California became the first state to designate Chavez’s birthday as a day to honour the civil rights leader. State employees were granted a day off and schools were required to teach students about his legacy and his involvement in the labour movement in California.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limon, the leaders of the California Legislature, said Thursday they would pass a bill renaming the holiday Farmworkers Day before the end of the month. The legislation would need Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval. He said Wednesday he was open to changing the name of the holiday but made no commitment.

Advocates grapple with Chavez’s legacy

Latino leaders and community groups quickly condemned the alleged abuse by Chavez but emphasized that the farmworker movement was never just about open person. Chavez died in California in 1993 at age 66.

Mary Rose Wilcox and her husband marched alongside Chavez. They helped him open a radio station in Phoenix and plastered their Mexican restaurant with photos and a mural of the widely admired Latino icon.

So when Wilcox’s daughter called this week to inform them of the allegations, she said it felt like a punch to the gut.

By Wednesday morning, the couple had taken down Chavez’s photos from their restaurant walls and made plans to cover the mural.

“We love Cesar Chavez. But we cannot honour him and we cannot even love him anymore,” said the former Phoenix City Council member.

Many like Wilcox are working to reconcile the legacy of a man who fought tirelessly for the rights of farmworkers with stunning the allegations.

Dolores Huerta stamped her own legacy on the fight for justice

Huerta, who is a labour rights legend in her own right, said in a statement released Wednesday that she stayed silent for 60 years for fear her words could hurt the farmworker movement. She said she did not know Chavez had hurt other women.

Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez; one in which she was “manipulated and pressured” and another when she was “forced against my will.” She said both led to pregnancies, which she kept secret, and that she arranged for the children to be raised by other families.

She joined Chavez in 1962 to co-found the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America. For many, they were akin to Martin Luther King. Jr. and Rosa Parks because of their work advocating for racial equality and civil rights.

Huerta’s resolve and dedication to civil rights, women’s rights and social justice won wide admiration. Some, including a group of Democrats in Texas, are calling for Huerta’s name to replace Chavez’s on places that bear his name.

The New York Times first reported Wednesday that it found Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. Huerta, too, revealed to the newspaper that she was a victim of the abuse in her 30s.

Some knew about Chavez’s abusive behaviour, biographer says

Chavez is known nationally for his early organizing in the fields, a hunger strike, a grape boycott and eventual victory in getting growers to negotiate with farmworkers for better wages and working conditions.

Streets, schools and parks across the Southwest bear Chavez’s name. California became the first state to commemorate his birthday, and in 2014, then-President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 Cesar Chavez Day. President Joe Biden had a bronze bust of Chavez installed in the Oval Office when he moved into the White House.

Biden and Obama have not yet commented on the allegations. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was still processing the news.

Chavez was full of contradictions even as a union leader, said Miriam Pawel, a California journalist who wrote a biography of him. There was abusive behaviours within the union, but people didn’t speak out because they believed the union was the best way to protect farmworkers, she said.

“For many, many years, for most of those people, even when they saw things that they found disturbing, they did not wanna talk about it,” Pawel said.

Chavez’s family and foundation voice support for the victims

Born in Yuma, Arizona, Chavez grew up in a Mexican American family that travelled around California picking lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops.

Chavez’s family said in a statement that they are devastated by the allegations.

“We wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage to come forward. As a family steeped in the values of equity and justice, we honour the voices of those who feel unheard and who report sexual abuse,” the family said.

The Cesar Chavez Foundation pledged support for the labour leader’s victims, saying -- with the Chavez family’s support -- the organization will figure out its identity going forward.

The United Farm Workers union quickly distanced itself from annual celebrations of its founder, calling the allegations troubling.

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By Jacques Billeaud, Fernanda Figueroa And Hallie Golden

Golden reported from Seattle and Figueroa reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tran Nguyễn in Sacramento, California; and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed to this report.