Communities rebrand César Chavez Day as abuse allegations taint his legacy

0:00Just two weeks ago, cities across the country were finalizing plans for celebrations of Cesar Chavez' day. Then an investigative report from the New York Times revealed allegations that Chavez sexually abused women and girls for years, including Dolores Huerta, with whom he co-founded the United Farm Workers' Union, or UFW. Now, many of those cities are canceling those plans, and a day that was once a celebration has become a painful reminder of his now-turnished legacy, Stephanie Psyre reports. On a day that once celebrated him, communities are now moving swiftly to distance themselves from disgraced labor leader Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993. A New York Times investigation this month uncovered evidence that Chavez sexually abused women and girls for years, while leading the Farm Workers' Movement. Hearing about these allegations is definitely a hard thing to digest, but it's also a hard

1:01thing to ignore. Cities like Milwaukee in Austin canceled celebrations entirely, while others emphasized the movement over the man. In Denver, where a Chavez statue was dismantled, activists instead celebrated Cesar Puyde Day. In English, yes, we can. In the patch of grass, that bore Chavez's name for two decades had a new handwritten sign. Dolores Huerta Park, after the woman who co-founded the United Farm Workers' Union, Huerta herself, now 95, was revealed by the New York Times to have been raped by Chavez. I'm hoping that even though this is really difficult news and devastating news to absorb, that it might give some new life to the Farm Workers' Movement to get out from under his shadow. Heraldo Codava is a professor of history in Latino Studies at Northwestern University. I think historians have already made the move toward recognizing that the United Farm

2:03Workers' was a broader social movement. I think what Placing Dolores Huerta, the foreground of the movement, now does. On the one hand, it acknowledges women's contributions and the idea that women have always been part of the union and were central to its successes. I guess I would only caution against just simply replacing Chavez with Huerta and lionizing her, coming to lionize her in the same way that we lionize Cesar Chavez because to replace one hero with another hero could also stunt the movement in some way, as I think. Women who speak up last week, both Minnesota and California, which was the first state to recognize Chavez's birthday as a holiday, quickly pass new laws renaming March 31st Farm Workers' Day. This is not about one narrative, it's about honoring generations of sacrifice, of resilience,

3:05and hope. In the UFW itself, canceled its planned events, calling the allegations against Chavez shocking and indefensible. Taken together, it marked a nearly unthinkable fall from grace for the late civil rights icon, once mentioned in the same breath as Martin Luther King, Jr., and whose name and image adorned schools, street signs, and murals nationwide. These tributes, once a point of pride, now a source of pain in cities like Los Angeles. Cesar Chavez Avenue needs to be replaced. I have a 10-year-old little girl who lives in that building, on Cesar Chavez, who today after school, I'm going to have to sit down around the dinner table and explain to her why we're out here doing this, what the rumors, the allegations, and the facts are. Here the Board of Supervisors has now voted to erase Chavez's name from county streets and buildings. Phoenix has done the same, Betty Wardotto is a member of the city council.

4:06For us, you know, to be able to act on this as fast as we did, it just means that we're not going to tolerate this type of behavior, and that we're going to continue to hold everyone accountable, that we will continue to lift the victims, that we will continue to do the right thing as a city. And still, what's next will likely be tougher than removing street signs, a full reckoning with Chavez's legacy, both the vital role he played in advancing civil rights and the disturbing truth of his sexual abuse. In a letter to the public this afternoon, the Cesar Chavez Foundation said, during this time of painful internal reflection, we do not want to lose sight of the very real threats our community currently faces. We cannot let this moment fracture what so many work so hard to build, a sentiment echoed by the current president of the UFW Theresa Romero. You know, we have in one hand, Cesar Chavez, a man who committed horrible acts that we're not going to justify that we don't condone.

5:09On the other hand, we have Cesar Chavez, the organizer who brought thousands and thousands of people together to be able to work for farm workers. And unfortunately, you know, those two things came from the same man. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Stephanie Sy.