{"id":12066,"date":"2026-03-19T19:30:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/allegations-of-sexual-abuse-by-cesar-chavez-bring-wave-of-reactions\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:23:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:23:27","slug":"allegations-of-sexual-abuse-by-cesar-chavez-bring-wave-of-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/allegations-of-sexual-abuse-by-cesar-chavez-bring-wave-of-reactions\/","title":{"rendered":"Allegations of sexual abuse by C\u00e9sar Chavez bring wave of reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"United
United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta looks at a mural of the late Cesar Chavez during a dedication of the Cesar Chavez Monument on the San Jose State University campus in San Jose, California., Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008. (AP Photo\/Paul Sakuma, File)<\/span>Paul Sakuma<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

PHOENIX \u2013 Two of California\u2019s top lawmakers said Thursday they want to rename C\u00e9sar Chavez Day after stunning abuse allegations against the revered labor leader.<\/p>\n

Political leaders in states and cities are considering similar moves after the allegations became public, accusing Chavez of sexually abusing girls and Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America.<\/p>\n

There also have been calls to alter memorials honoring the man who, in the 1960s, helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and was long revered by many Democratic leaders in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson\u2019s office said Thursday that he will not issue a proclamation honoring C\u00e9sar Chavez Day this year. The California Museum said it will remove Chavez from the state\u2019s Hall of Fame. Celebrations of Chavez in Texas and in his home state of Arizona have been canceled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.<\/p>\n

In 2000, California became the first state to designate Chavez\u2019s birthday as a day to honor the civil rights leader. State employees were granted a day off, and schools were required to teach students about his legacy and his involvement in the labor movement in California.<\/p>\n

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President pro Tempore Monique Lim\u00f3n, the leaders of the California Legislature, said Thursday they would pass a bill renaming the holiday Farmworkers Day before the end of the month. The legislation would need Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s approval. Newsom said Wednesday he was open to changing the name of the holiday but made no commitment.<\/p>\n

\"United
United Farm Workers President Cesar Chavez talks to striking Salinas Valley farmworkers during a large rally in Salinas, Califoria, on March 7, 1979. (Paul Sakuma\/The Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Advocates grapple with Chavez\u2019s legacy<\/div>\n

Latino leaders and community groups quickly condemned the alleged abuse by Chavez but emphasized that the farmworker movement was never just about one person. Chavez died in California in 1993 at age 66.<\/p>\n

Mary Rose Wilcox and her husband marched alongside Chavez. They helped him open a radio station in Phoenix and plastered their Mexican restaurant with photos and a mural of the widely admired Latino icon.<\/p>\n

So when Wilcox\u2019s daughter called this week to inform them of the allegations, she said it felt like a punch to the gut.<\/p>\n

By Wednesday morning, the couple had taken down Chavez\u2019s photos from their restaurant walls and made plans to cover the mural.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love C\u00e9sar Chavez. But we cannot honor him and we cannot even love him anymore,\u201d said Wilcox, a former Phoenix City Council member.<\/p>\n

Many like Wilcox are working to reconcile the legacy of a man who fought tirelessly for the rights of farmworkers with the stunning allegations.<\/p>\n

\"Dolores
Dolores Huerta, the Mexican-American social activist who formed a farm workers union with Cesar Chavez, stands for the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish while visiting the New Mexico Statehouse in Santa Fe on Feb. 27, 2019. (Russell Contreras\/The Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Dolores Huerta stamped her own legacy on the fight for justice<\/div>\n

Huerta, who is a labor rights legend in her own right, said in a statement released Wednesday that she stayed silent for 60 years for fear her words could hurt the farmworker movement. She said she did not know Chavez had hurt other women.<\/p>\n

Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez, one in which she was \u201cmanipulated and pressured\u201d and another when she was \u201cforced against my will.\u201d She said both led to pregnancies, which she kept secret, and that she arranged for the children to be raised by other families.<\/p>\n

She joined Chavez in 1962 to co-found the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. For many, they were akin to Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks because of their work advocating for racial equality and civil rights.<\/p>\n

Huerta\u2019s resolve and dedication to civil rights, women\u2019s rights and social justice won wide admiration. Some, including a group of Democrats in Texas, are calling for Huerta\u2019s name to replace Chavez\u2019s on places that bear his name.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported Wednesday that it found Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. Huerta also told the newspaper that she was a victim of the abuse in her 30s.<\/p>\n

\"United
United Farm Workers president C\u00e9sar Chavez, center, and union members hold a rally for the beginning of a march to Salinas, Calif., at Union Square in San Francisco on July 31, 1979. (Mike Maloney\/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)<\/span>Mike Maloney<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Some knew about Chavez\u2019s abusive behavior, biographer says<\/div>\n

Chavez is known nationally for his early organizing in the fields, a hunger strike, a grape boycott and an eventual victory in getting growers to negotiate with farmworkers for better wages and working conditions.<\/p>\n

Streets, schools and parks across the Southwest bear Chavez\u2019s name. California became the first state to commemorate his birthday, and in 2014, then-President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 C\u00e9sar Chavez Day. President Joe Biden had a bronze bust of Chavez installed in the Oval Office when he moved into the White House.<\/p>\n

Biden and Obama have not yet commented on the allegations. Newsom said he was still processing the news.<\/p>\n

Chavez was full of contradictions even as a union leader, said Miriam Pawel, a California journalist who wrote a biography of him. There were abusive behaviors within the union, but people did not speak out because they believed the union was the best way to protect farmworkers, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many, many years, for most of those people, even when they saw things that they found disturbing, they did not wanna talk about it,\u201d Pawel said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A sanitation worker picks up trash next to a mural of C\u00e9sar Chavez in Bakersfield, Calif., Thursday, March 19, 2026. Godofredo A. V\u00e1squez\/The Associated Press<\/span>Godofredo A. V\u00e1squez<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Chavez\u2019s family and foundation voice support for victims<\/div>\n

Born in Yuma, Arizona, Chavez grew up in a Mexican American family that traveled around California picking lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops.<\/p>\n

Chavez\u2019s family said in a statement that they are devastated by the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage to come forward. As a family steeped in the values of equity and justice, we honor the voices of those who feel unheard and who report sexual abuse,\u201d the family said.<\/p>\n

The Cesar Chavez Foundation pledged support for the labor leader\u2019s victims, saying that, with the Chavez family\u2019s support, the organization will determine its identity going forward.<\/p>\n

The United Farm Workers union quickly distanced itself from annual celebrations of its founder, calling the allegations troubling.<\/p>\n

Golden reported from Seattle and Figueroa reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tr\u00e2n Nguy\u1ec5n in Sacramento, California, and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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