In this 2014 photo, members of the Banda Show Paraiso pose for photos outside the TCC Trinity River Campus after a march with about 1,000 participants through downtown Fort Worth to honor the birthday of American labor and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.
Ron T. Ennis
Star-Telegram archives
Newly uncovered allegations that Cesar Chavez, the farming labor leader, sexually assaulted minors decades ago are prompting cancellations of annual celebrations of his March 31 birthday, which is a federal holiday.
United Farm Workers, the union he and Dolores Huerta founded, said this week it will not take part in any Cesar Chavez Day activities due to the “deeply troubling” abuse allegations. A New York Times investigation published Wednesday revealed Chavez, who died in 1993, groomed and assaulted girls for years who were connected to the movement. Huerta told the newspaper she was assaulted by Chavez in the 1960s.
The union said it doesn’t have direct reports or firsthand knowledge of the allegations.
“However, the allegations are serious enough that we feel compelled to take urgent steps to learn more and provide space for people who may have been victimized to find support and to share their stories if that is what they choose,” the statement said.
In Fort Worth, the Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta Committee of Tarrant County formed in 2016 with a mission to promote education, social justice, the community and civil rights. Its annual rally for Cesar Chavez Day is scheduled to be part of a No Kings protest on March 28. A leader with the group said it would be issuing a statement later Wednesday.
In Texas and across the country, Chavez’s name is on schools, streets, neighborhoods, buildings, universities and parks. Fort Worth has Cesar Chavez Primary School in Diamond Hill. Downtown Dallas as boulevard. In Texas, Cesar Chavez Day is considered an optional state holiday.
Chávez was born in Yuma, Arizona, as a first-generation Mexican American.
After leaving the Community Service Organization in 1962, Chavez and Huerta helped found the National Farm Workers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers.
United Farm Workers aims to empower migrant workers through nonviolent tactics to have livable wages and safe working conditions.
A strike by grape growers in Delano, California, that began in 1965 was a major victory. It lasted for five years, and workers endured a 340-mile march from Delano to Sacramento to draw attention to their plight. By 1970, 26 grape growing corporations signed contracts with the United Farm Workers, resulting in better wages, working conditions, unemployment insurance, paid vacation days and other benefits.
It led to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, the first law guaranteeing collective bargaining for farm workers.
Chavez died on April 13, 1993, and in the following year was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States, by President Clinton.
In 2018, Fort Worth ISD voted unanimously to add a new holiday, César Chávez-Dolores Huerta Day, which is observed annually on the Monday before Chávez’s birthday on March 31.
Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Kamal Morgan covers racial equity issues for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He came to Texas from the Pensacola News Journal in Florida. Send tips to his email or Twitter.