“The center of our city and the heart of East Austin should reflect our commitment to justice,” city leaders wrote.
AUSTIN, Texas — City leaders are weighing a possible name change for Cesar Chavez Street as controversy grows over sexual abuse allegations involving the late labor and civil rights leader.
Austin is the latest city to cancel its Cesar Chavez Day celebrations after those allegations were published on Wednesday in a New York Times article. The accusations include sexual assault and abuse against women and girls. Chavez died in 1993.
Residents with neighborhood group El Concilio de East Austin called on the city of Austin to rename Cesar Chavez Street in light of the allegations. Council Members Jose Velasquez, Vanessa Fuentes and Chito Vela, along with County Attorney Delia Garza, issued a joint statement on Wednesday, saying they’d support that change.
“The center of our city and the heart of East Austin should reflect our commitment to justice,” city leaders wrote. “We support the renaming of Cesar Chavez Street and will begin the discussion with the community at the forefront. The farmworkers movement and fight for civil rights will always be bigger than any one person. ¡La lucha sigue!”
The street name was changed from First Street to Cesar Chavez Street a few months after Chavez’s death in 1993. Chavez had close ties to Austin, where he led rallies at the Texas Capitol and supported labor strikes such as the Chicano Huelga.
On Wednesday, the Hispanic Advocates and Business Leaders of Austin, or HABLA, announced the annual march honoring Chavez would no longer take place “out of an abundance of caution and respect for all parties involved.” It was set for Saturday, March 28, at Austin Public Library’s Terrazas Branch.
Now, the Austin business group said it will search for different ways to support families and find profitable opportunities while in pursuit of justice.
A day earlier, the United Farm Workers labor union said it would no longer celebrate Chavez’s birthday on March 31 amid “troubling allegations” against the organization’s deceased cofounder. It also said it has not received direct reports from victims.
One of Chavez’s accusers is fellow United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta. In a post on Facebook, the 96-year-old said she had two sexual encounters with Chavez in the 1960s. Huerta said she felt manipulated and pressured in one and forced against her will in the other.
Both, she said, resulted in secret pregnancies of children later raised by other families.
Huerta wrote in part, “I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for.”
Austin ISD observes March 31 as Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta Day. KVUE has reached out to AISD to see if the district is changing anything in light of the allegations. This week is spring break and we have not yet heard back.
Gov. Greg Abbott also announced that Texas will no longer observe Cesar Chavez Day, saying he will work with lawmakers to remove the holiday from state law.
“In the upcoming legislative session, I will work with Texas lawmakers to remove Cesar Chavez Day from state law altogether,” Abbott said. “Reports of the horrific and widely acknowledged sexual assault allegations against Cesar Chavez rightfully dismantle the myth of this progressive hero and undermine the narrative that elevated Chavez as a figure worthy of official state celebration.”