{"id":246370,"date":"2026-04-01T07:07:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/246370\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T07:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:07:37","slug":"visitors-mark-chavez-birthday-at-monument-amid-sexual-abuse-allegations-future-uncertain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/246370\/","title":{"rendered":"Visitors mark Chavez birthday at monument amid sexual abuse allegations, future uncertain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KEENE, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A sparse amount of visitors continued to arrive on March 31 at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/cech\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez National Monument<\/a> in Keene to reflect on the late labor leader\u2019s legacy, as <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/search?find=cesar+chavez+allegations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">sexual abuse allegations against Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> have raised questions about the future of the site and renewed debate over why the date is now recognized as Farmworkers Day.<\/p>\n<p>Brothers Esau and Joel Herrera drove from San Jose to visit the monument on Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s birthday. They said they wanted to honor Ch\u00e1vez while also acknowledging the allegations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I\u2019m here to grieve. I\u2019m here to honor Cesar. I\u2019m here to put the pain to rest. Hopefully,\u201d Esau Herrera said.<\/p>\n<p>Staff at the site declined an interview.<\/p>\n<p>The C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Foundation released <a href=\"https:\/\/chavezfoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a statement<\/a> that read in part: \u201cLike many across the country, we ourselves are grappling with what to do with a name and identity that carries with it so much history, but now also carries so much pain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The controversy has also reached Washington. Last week, Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana authored <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornyn.senate.gov\/news\/cornyn-cassidy-introduce-bill-to-defund-abolish-the-cesar-e-chavez-national-monument\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a bill<\/a> to abolish and defund the Ch\u00e1vez National Monument.<\/p>\n<p>Cornyn wrote: \u201cNot one dime of taxpayer money should be spent on a monument that glorifies a monster like C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez, especially when that monument stands quite literally at the scene of some of his alleged crimes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to The New York Times, women have alleged they were sexually abused as minors at La Paz on the national monument site.<\/p>\n<p>Some visitors said the allegations did not change their decision to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot at all because those were allegations. His works stand for themselves,\u201d said Leigh Hanson, a Pinon Hills resident.<\/p>\n<p>Bill Cropper of California City said he visits the monument every time he drives to Bakersfield because Ch\u00e1vez \u201clooked out for other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith everything in the news, they might decide to change the name, and they should leave it alone. It\u2019s his grave site. People have been coming here for years. They should just leave it alone,\u201d Cropper said.<\/p>\n<p>For many, Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s impact on farmworkers remains central to why people continue to visit the monument, but as questions emerge, how that legacy is remembered may continue to evolve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KEENE, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A sparse amount of visitors continued to arrive on March 31 at the C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-246370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246370","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=246370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}