Late Activist César Chávez Faced with Sexual Abuse Allegations

Late Mexican-American activist and labor unionist Cèsar Chávez, who passed away in 1993, is facing allegations of abusing girls when he was rising as a labor leader. The New York Times broke the story last week and now every reference to Chavez is being removed. 

American Labor Leader, Dolores Huerta, met Chávez in 1955 in Stockton, CA, and formed the United Farm Workers union with him in 1966. She claimed that Chávez had sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions. 

In 1960 in San Juan Capistrano, CA, Huerta was manipulated into having sex with Chávez in a hotel room.

In 1966, Huerta said a different assault happened at the People`s Bar and Cafe in Delano, CA after Chávez asked to speak to her privately. She followed him assuming the matter was urgent. Because he believed his office was bugged, he drove them out to a secluded grape field and assaulted her, leaving her numb and in a state of shock. 

She was pregnant with a child from this encounter.

She never told anyone about the rapes as she feared it would destroy the movement and create a political distraction.

From other incidents, Huerta became pregnant again by Chávez. She gave up both of her kids for other parents to raise. 

In addition, other women also said that Chávez had sexually abused them from 1972 to 1977 when he was in his 40s and becoming a prominent figure. 

Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, both of whom are daughters of organizers, had known Chávez since they were 8 years old. Murguia claimed that she was molested in his office numerous times, and was so traumatized that she attempted suicide mutiple times by the time she was 15 years old. 

Rojas said that Chávez initially groped her when she was 12 years old. When she was 15 years old, she claimed that she was raped by him after he arranged for her to stay at a motel during a weeklong march through California. 

Both women are now in their 60s and only now are they sharing their stories for the first time. 

Once these allegations surfaced, actions were taken swiftly. 

In the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, a mural with César Chávez that was across from a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial has been repainted with Huerta. 

“‘It is an incredible disappointment to learn what’s come out about César Chávez, but the movement and the struggle is bigger than a single person. And there’s always more people that were instrumental to fighting for migrant workers’ rights and the rights of Latinos across California,” said Autumn Ybarra, executive director of the Watts Century Latino Organization. “So pivoting to the Dolores Huerta was pretty easy to do.” 

Lawmakers are seeking to rename holidays that were named after the late labor organizer. After Berkely mayor, Mayor Adena Ishii, said she plans to hold a meeting with Berkeley staff to rename every city event, holiday and location with Chávez’s name in it. 

One of the locations is César Chávez Park. Berkeley council member Rashi Kesarwani proposed the idea to rename César Chávez Park after the United Farm Workers union.

Other states are taking similar action. The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill to erase César Chávez Day before next Tuesday. 

In Texas, the state has ordered the removal of César Chávez from grade school lessons. 

“The Texas State Board of Education is in the process of rewriting its K-12 social studies curriculum standards to emphasize a focus on Texas and U.S. history. The board is set to vote in June on the new standards, which TEA expects will remove explicit requirements to teach about Chavez,” The Texas Tribune reports. 

Universities have either removed or covered César Chávez statues. At California State University of Fresno, a Chávez statue was covered in plastic and black tarp before a plywood box was built to cover it further. California State University of San Marcos in San Diego had removed their César Chávez statue. 

Trickling down individuals, artists, singers and filmmakers who represent the Chicano movement of the U.S. used to look up to the late UFW leader, with singers, such as Lalo Guerrero and a Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte writing ballads celebrating him, but the news has shattered his reputation and legacy.