Institutions and cities across the United States are reevaluating the legacy of labor leader and political activist César Chavez following a March investigation that brought forward multiple allegations of sexual abuse.
As César Chávez Day was set to be celebrated on March 31, an in-depth investigation by The New York Times prompted renamings, cancelled celebrations and many public responses from government officials. Some of those allegations include reported abuse of women and minors as young as 12 years old, all while leading the United Farm Workers (UFW), which Chávez co-founded with Delores Huerta.
Following the investigation on March. 18, Huerta put out a statement on The Medium where she admitted she was sexually abused two different times in the 1960’s by Chávez, both encounters resulted in pregnancies.
Huerta stated, “I wasn’t going to let César or anyone else get in the way.”
Keeping this a secret for 60 years, Huerta was determined to protect the farmworker movement.
“I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work,” Huerta said.
According to El Paso Times, city leaders want to strip César Chávez’s name from El Paso. According to KFOX14, the city council calls for three community hearings to gather feedback on renaming places honoring César Chávez, including the César E. Chávez border highway. Greg Abbott plans to eliminate César Chávez Day across Texas. California lawmakers have since rename César Chávez Day as Farmworkers Day while the UFW says they have canceled all celebrations, taking these allegations as a betrayal of their values.
The El Paso community was shocked by the news of these findings. According to the El Paso Times, the Ysleta Independent School District (YISD) noted that they are deeply saddened by the news, though they have no plans to rename the Cesar Chavez Academy in southeast El Paso.
El Paso city officials have renamed March 31 as Community & Labor Heritage Day.
Mia Colmenero is the layout editor for The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected]