That reckoning is already having broad effects across Texas \u2014 and the response has been swift.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773935843_908_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Michael Minasi<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
KUT News<\/p>\n
A street sign for Cesar Chavez Street at the intersection with Mildred Street is pictured on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Austin, Texas. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday afternoon, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he directed state agency heads to stop observing C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Day<\/a> and plans to work with lawmakers to remove the March 31 holiday from state law during the next legislative session. In a social media post<\/a>, Abbott also said the allegations \u201cdismantle the myth\u201d of Ch\u00e1vez as a figure worthy of official state recognition.<\/p>\n This came just hours after organizers in cities including Houston<\/a>, San Antonio<\/a> and Austin<\/a> called off long-running C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Day marches and events, many of which have drawn thousands of attendees in past years.<\/p>\n In South Texas, leaders with La Uni\u00f3n del Pueblo Entero, or LUPE, said they wouldn’t participate in any Ch\u00e1vez-related events this year, calling the allegations \u201cshocking and disturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a>, the organization, which represents more than 8,000 farmworkers in the Rio Grande Valley, called the allegations \u201cindefensible\u201d and said LUPE is working with other groups to create a confidential, independent process for people who say they were harmed to come forward and potentially seek accountability or reparations.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the United Farm Workers Foundation says it has also canceled all C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Day activities this month.<\/p>\n The fallout could extend beyond canceled events, with Texas advocates and officials saying the renewed scrutiny may prompt reconsideration of streets<\/a>, schools and public landmarks named after Ch\u00e1vez. Dozens of such sites exist across the state, particularly in Latino-majority communities in the state\u2019s largest cities and the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n Michael Minasi<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n KUT News<\/p>\n Gavino Fernandez Jr., with El Concilio Mexican-American Landowners de East Austin, speaks to press about the issue of changing the name of Cesar Chavez Street on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in front of an East Austin mural of Cesar Chavez. <\/p>\n A tainted legacy rooted in Texas labor struggles<\/p>\n Ch\u00e1vez, who died in 1993, is widely credited with helping transform labor conditions for farmworkers through strikes and boycotts in the 1960s and 1970s. While his organizing was centered in California, his influence extended deeply into Texas \u2014 particularly in the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n Cynthia Orozco, national historian for the League of United Latin American Citizens, told The Texas Newsroom that Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s impact in Texas is undeniable, particularly following the creation of the Texas Farm Workers Union<\/a> after a 1975 split with the United Farm Workers<\/a>, the union Ch\u00e1vez co-founded with labor leader Dolores Huerta more than a decade earlier.<\/p>\n Under the newly created union, Texas farmworkers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley went on to lead their own organizing efforts, pushing for better wages and working conditions through campaigns that included a 1977 march from South Texas to the U.S. Capitol<\/a>, aimed at drawing national attention to their cause.<\/p>\n Still, Orozco believes Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s role remains tied to a broader movement that extended beyond any one leader.<\/p>\n This 1965 Associated Press file photo shows Cesar Chavez, farm worker labor organizer and civil rights leader.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s often common for most of us to identify with a leader, or to know the name of a leader, but we do need to remember that it was a social movement,\u201d Orozco said. \u201cA movement is not made by leaders. A movement is made by a body of workers.\u201d<\/p>\n The allegations<\/a> now coming to light are tied to that era. As Ch\u00e1vez traveled nationally on behalf of farmworkers, the allegations suggest that, behind locked doors, he may have sexually abused women and girls connected to the movement in private settings like his California office and motels.<\/p>\n Among the most serious claims are allegations that Ch\u00e1vez abused two teenage girls \u2014 both daughters of longtime organizers who had marched alongside him, according to reporting from the NY Times. The women say the abuse occurred over several years, from about 1972 to 1977, when they were minors.<\/p>\n Huerta, Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s longtime colleague and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, also publicly accused Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> of sexual abuse this week. She said he pressured her into one sexual encounter and forced another, and that both resulted in pregnancies she kept secret for decades<\/a> out of concern it could harm the farmworker movement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not appropriate to continue to label C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez a hero,\u201d Orozco said. \u201cWe can say that he led a very important movement, along with Dolores Huerta, but if we had ever thought of him as a saint, we could now think of him also as a sinner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Texas, C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez has long been remembered as a towering figure in the fight for farmworker rights,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,15804,82775,1472,82776,82777,82503],"class_list":["post-211561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-cesar-chavez","tag-la-union-del-pueblo-entero","tag-rio-grande-valley","tag-texas-cesar-chavez","tag-texas-farm-workers-union","tag-united-farm-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Gavino](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773935843_177_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773921251_181_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n