Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that Texas will no longer observe C\u00e9sar Chavez Day and directed all state agencies to comply, while pledging to work with lawmakers next session to strike the holiday from state law.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Abbott cited<\/a> fresh allegations of sexual assault against the late labor activist.<\/p>\n \u201cThe State of Texas will not observe the C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Day holiday. I am directing all Texas state agency heads to comply. In the upcoming legislative session, I will work with Texas lawmakers to remove C\u00e9sar Chavez Day from state law altogether,\u201d Abbott said. <\/p>\n \u201cReports of the horrific and widely acknowledged sexual assault allegations against C\u00e9sar Chavez rightfully dismantle the myth of this progressive hero and undermine the narrative that elevated Chavez as a figure worthy of official state celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n The move follows revelations this week that Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Dolores Huerta in 1962, groomed and sexually abused young girls and women in the movement. <\/p>\n Huerta, a co-founder and labor rights icon, publicly disclosed Wednesday that Chavez assaulted her in her 30s, describing two encounters \u2014 one in which she was \u201cmanipulated and pressured\u201d and another where she was \u201cforced against my will.\u201d<\/p>\n Huerta said<\/a> she stayed silent for 60 years to protect the farmworker cause and later revealed the assaults resulted in two pregnancies that she kept secret, arranging for the children to be raised by other families.<\/p>\n \u201cI carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was life\u2019s work,\u201d Huerta said in a statement. \u201cThe formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights and I wasn\u2019t going to let C\u00e9sar or anyone else get in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that Chavez\u2019s actions \u201cdo not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people\u201d and urged continued advocacy.<\/p>\n In addition to Huerta, a New York Times article named<\/a> two other women who claimed that they were sexually abused by Chavez in the 1970s when they were young girls. Both women were daughters of activist organizers who had marched in demonstrations alongside Chavez.<\/p>\n