Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna proposed Wednesday that the county rename its Cesar Chavez holiday after sexual abuse allegations were made against the California icon.
“Sacramento County should not wait one second longer to ensure our official holidays represent people, practices and traditions worthy of recognition,” he wrote in a statement.
Chavez is accused of sexually assaulting or raping minors and Dolores Huerta, another civil rights hero, according to a New York Times report published Wednesday. Huerta said she had two children after Chavez’s assault and never spoke about his abuse to avoid damaging the farmworkers’ movement.
Serna in the statement proposed renaming Cesar Chavez Day to “Sacramento County Farm Workers Appreciation Day.” The day is celebrated on March 31, the labor leader’s birthday. It is commemorated as a holiday in cities across California, and is also a state holiday.
Serna also requested county officials move the new holiday to a different date.
Serna’s father, former Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna Jr., pushed to name the central plaza across from City Hall after Chavez in 1997. On Wednesday, a majority of Sacramento’s City Council members, including Mayor Kevin McCarty, expressed support for stripping the Cesar E. Chavez name from the location.
Serna wrote that the allegations left him heartbroken and angry. He did not return a request for comment.
“It is absolutely the right thing to do, at the right time, and for all the right reasons,” he said in a statement.
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Ishani Desai is a government watchdog reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously covered crime and courts for The Bakersfield Californian.