César Chávez, the legendary California farm-labor activist and Mexican-American civil rights icon, has for decades been a figure intertwined with state and national Democratic politics.
Former President Joe Biden had a bust of Chávez inside the White House. Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters a black-and-white photo of Chávez and his close ally Sen. Robert Kennedy is the first picture he sees in his house every morning.
And, in California, Chávez’s name is intertwined with day-to-day life. Dozens, if not hundreds, of public schools, boulevards, community centers and city plazas bear his name. He’s even part of California schools’ official curriculum.
Now, less than two weeks before California was to celebrate the state holiday honoring the late labor leader’s birthday, state and national Democrats are grappling with the shocking revelation that multiple women have come forward alleging that Chávez raped them. One of those women was his partner in the movement, Dolores Huerta.
On Wednesday, The New York Times published an investigation naming three women who accused Chávez of using his position of power to sexually assault them. Two were the daughters of union leaders. They told the Times they were abused as girls.
The other was Huerta, herself a labor icon, who co-founded the farmworker union with Chávez, popularized the rallying cry of “Sí, se puede” and who remains a towering figure in Democratic politics. Huerta said in the Times story that Chávez had raped her, and that she had given birth to two children after encounters with him.
“Unfortunately, he used some of his great leadership to abuse women and children — it’s really awful,” Huerta, 95, told the Times.
The fallout from the revelations was immediate as Democratic politicians and labor activists scrambled to react to one of their heroes being forever tarnished.
“How many days I’ve marched, how many times I’ve been with students, talking about the movement, how many photographs I have in my house of Bobby Kennedy and César Chávez,” Newsom told reporters at a press conference. “It’s been hard to absorb this.”
His wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a sexual assault survivor and director of several films about gender equality, told reporters in tears that she was “shaking a little about Dolores and these young women.”
“The women are in our hearts,” she said in Spanish.
The United Farm Workers, the union that Chávez founded, called the accusations “indefensible” and cancelled its César Chávez Day events. Just four years ago, the union recreated his iconic March to Sacramento as it pushed Newsom to sign a law meant to make it easier for it to sign up members.
California starts scrubbing Chávez’s name
Other state political leaders, members of Congress and Democratic candidates for governor, meanwhile, put out statements condemning the allegations and showing support for the women who spoke out.
“For survivors and their families, the weight of their pain is real and ongoing,” Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said in a statement that didn’t name Chávez. “The farmworker movement has never been about one man; it is bigger than any one person, and its values of dignity and justice are more important now than ever. To those who have found the courage to come forward, my heart is with you.”
Rivas, like many California Democrats serving in the Legislature, has close ties to the labor movement and is a former union member.
Rivas grew up in farmworker housing and has long made Chávez part of his political story. In 2024, he was honored at the César Chávez Foundation alongside Jane Fonda.
Rivas’ office didn’t respond to CalMatters when asked whether the Legislature will fast-track legislation to rename the state holiday in time for March 31. The Legislature made it an official holiday in 2000. To change the name, the Legislature would have to pass a bill that Newsom would have to sign into law.
Newsom told reporters he was open to the idea, but leaders need some time to absorb the shock.
“We have to unpack all of this, dive a little deeper first to understand, before we jump to the next steps,” he said. “There’s a sense of urgency on that in the context of this being the month we celebrate the life and times of a figure we’ve long embraced and revered.”
The Legislature’s Latino Caucus also is discussing what to do, said Los Angeles Democratic Assemblymember Mark González.
“All options are being thoughtfully considered in response to the allegations of sexual violence involving César Chávez, including the possibility of renaming the state holiday,” he said in a statement. “This is a moment that calls for care, accountability, and a commitment to supporting survivors of sexual violence.”
At the same time, local leaders were also considering removing Chávez’s name from their landmarks.
Cities review park, street names
San Diego officials may rename César Chávez Parkway, according to spokesperson Dave Rolland.
“The allegations of abuse involving César Chávez are shocking and disturbing,” Mayor Todd Gloria, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Our first concern must be with the survivors who have come forward and those who were unable to do so.”
The city, which is the second most-populous in the state, has a park and avenue named after the civil rights leader.
In Sacramento, where César Chávez Plaza sits just a few blocks from the Capitol, leaders also are taking steps to rename the landmark.
Mayor Kevin McCarty, a former Democratic lawmaker who says he participated in UFW and Chávez Day marches for 30 years, was convening a subcommittee to work on changing the name.
“We take these allegations seriously and will ensure the naming of our city facilities aligns with our values,” he said in a statement.
Chávez a towering figure in Democratic politics
For many Democrats, Chávez was more than just a historical figure — he embodied the party’s ideals about labor, justice and social change. He was also a revered leader within the Latino communities, many of whom remembered him for his decades-long fight for farmworker rights.
“Certainly no one can deny that César Chávez has been an incredibly influential figure in not just California’s landscape, but really nationally,” said Mindy Romero, founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy who studies Latino politics.
From rallies to protests to floor speeches, California Democrats frequently invoke his name. Lawmakers have referenced Chávez at least 278 times in hearings since 2023, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database.
“We will often see invoking of César Chávez … as almost proof that they are in solidarity with the labor movement and Latino community,” Romero said.
Last year’s legislative floor sessions commemorating César Chávez Day featured one lawmaker after the other extolling Chávez and what he represented.
“There are so many communities in California that have schools and health clinics and major boulevards and thoroughfares named for César Chávez and for all of this legacy, and they are a recognition of that past. Those roads are the roads to somewhere,” West Sacramento Democratic Sen. Christopher Cabaldon told his colleagues at the time. “They are the roads for us to continue to press, to fight, especially now, to make real that dream. Because not every farm worker in California has achieved the dreams that Cesar and everyone else that’s been mentioned on this floor has aspired to.”
The significance of Chavez’s legacy, however, is exactly why the allegations are tough to swallow for Democrats and labor organizers, said Christian Dyogi Phillips, former political director at the Service Employees International Union and now associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California.
“As organizers, we are always trying to understand power and figure out how we can distribute it more fairly and ensure that people have a voice,” she said. “And all of those dynamics are wrapped up in this story that’s unfolding, and how power has been abused, how people do not have a voice. As organizers, I think there’s nothing worse than that.”
Romero said the scandal could set back Latino representation in California politics. Few Latino leaders received recognition as widespread as Chavez: Then-President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994.
“You have a loss of a hero, but you also just have recognition for our community that is going to be questioned,” she said.
“Now people will struggle with reconciling this new, horrible element of his history,” she added. “Do people continue to celebrate him? How do they recognize his impact with this new history?”
For some Democrats, the allegations were shocking beyond what Chávez represented to their movement.
Personal connections to Chávez
Some had personal connections to Chávez’s alleged victims.
California Democratic Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes of San Bernardino called Huerta “a dear friend.” In a statement, she said she felt a mix of “rage, sorrow, and disappointment” after learning what Huerta and the other women told The Times.
“These revelations are deeply painful,” Reyes said. “They demand that we pursue accountability through due process under the law — and that we confront a deeply uncomfortable truth: We must never place any individual above reproach.”
Huerta has addressed lawmakers at least five times since 2024, according to Digital Democracy.
But the allegations also provide politicians with an opportunity to lift up women who were subject to the power dynamics and recognize other Latino leaders who have contributed to the labor movement for decades, political scientists say. Scraping Chavez’s name from schools and road signs, Phillips said, is “the basic and obvious.”
“To really honor the movement that this person’s name was such an important symbol of, our elected officials have to do so much more,” she said. “There’s also work to be done for our public leaders … to reach beyond the loudest, most charismatic man in the room into communities and figure out who is really doing the work.”
Digital Democracy’s Foaad Khosmood, Forbes professor of computer engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, contributed to this story.
via CalMatters https://ift.tt/6w7ntvH
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