{"id":229453,"date":"2026-03-21T01:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T01:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/229453\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T01:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T01:58:08","slug":"sacramento-covers-cesar-chavez-statue-amid-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/229453\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento covers Cesar Chavez statue amid allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_002_262003_JV_Chavez_Statue.JPG\"   width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" title=\"Black plastic covers the statue depicting Cesar Chavez in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza in Sacramento on Friday. City officials have announced plans to rename the park after accusations of rape and sexual assault by the civil rights leader surfaced earlier this week.\" alt=\"Black plastic covers the statue depicting Cesar Chavez in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza in Sacramento on Friday. City officials have announced plans to rename the park after accusations of rape and sexual assault by the civil rights leader surfaced earlier this week.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Black plastic covers the statue depicting Cesar Chavez in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza in Sacramento on Friday. City officials have announced plans to rename the park after accusations of rape and sexual assault by the civil rights leader surfaced earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>                JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS<\/p>\n<p>            jvillegas@sacbee.com<\/p>\n<p>The city of Sacramento wrapped black plastic around Cesar Chavez\u2019s statue Friday in the downtown plaza named for him, following a nationwide reckoning over allegations of sexual abuse by the labor leader.<\/p>\n<p>Chavez is accused of molesting or raping young girls and civil rights hero Dolores Huerta, according to a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/18\/us\/cesar-chavez-sexual-abuse-allegations-ufw.html\">New York Times story published Wednesday<\/a>. California leaders swiftly called for the removal of Chavez\u2019s name from monuments, streets, buildings and holidays.<\/p>\n<p>A majority of the Sacramento City Council denounced Chavez and called to rename Cesar E. Chavez Plaza, where the statue overlooks a space just across from City Hall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is important that our city provides space for individuals who may have been victimized,\u201d said Gabby Miller, a city spokesperson, wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty has appointed a subcommittee with council members to determine the new plaza\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>Former Mayor Joe Serna Jr. sought in 1997 to rename the plaza after Chavez. Sacramento is intertwined with Chavez\u2019s history, after he and farmworkers marched hundreds of miles to the state Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>The square \u2014 the backdrop to Sacramento\u2019s celebrations, protests and gatherings \u2014 was once known as Plaza Park.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/279278099\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ISHANI-DESAI-HEADSHOT.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Ishani Desai\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/279278099\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ishani Desai<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>            Ishani Desai is a government watchdog reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously covered crime and courts for The Bakersfield Californian.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black plastic covers the statue depicting Cesar Chavez in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza in Sacramento on Friday. City&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[104169,104231,121,123,122,104229,102786,104230],"class_list":["post-229453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-cesar-chavez-statue","tag-renaming-plaza","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-sacramento-plaza","tag-sexual-abuse-allegations","tag-statue-covered"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}