Statues toppled, streets renamed, murals covered: Fallout intensifies after allegations against Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez’s name and likeness were quickly removed from buildings, roads, parks and schools after allegations surfaced that the farmworker rights icon sexually assaulted minor and labor leader Dolores Huerta. In just two days after a New York Times investigation revealed the allegations, officials and activists across California moved quickly to remove Chavez from public spaces. Many said they were shocked by the accusations and felt immediate action was needed. The speed of the response has been described as unprecedented, especially in a state where Chavez’s legacy of fighting for agricultural workers’ rights is deeply rooted, the Los Angeles Times reported.Officials noted that reassessing place names as the dark side of history becomes more apparent is nothing new, pointing to recent moves to change the names of other controversial figures, including those with ties to the Confederacy and Father Junipero Serra, although those efforts have been slower and more measured. In the hours and days after Chavez was charged, many officials said the community should respond immediately and shift the focus away from Chavez and onto the larger movement, adding that the actions sent a message that such behavior was unacceptable.On Thursday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Council members announced they would abandon the holiday marking Chavez’s birthday and rename it “Farmworker Day” to honor the laborers who work in the fields.“I appreciate that my community has the integrity and strength to respond to these new discoveries in a very accessible way, as we do in Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who added that the effort to rename the festival was immediate.Araceli Molar de Barrios arrived in the United States in 1995, two years after Chavez’s death, and worked in the fields for nearly 30 years. She said news of Chavez and Huerta’s sexual abuse of teenagers sent shockwaves through the communities where she works every day as they work to improve working conditions and protections. She said she was sexually harassed by her supervisor and saw other women being harassed as well.Although she wasn’t working in the fields at the time, she said she agrees that cities and elected officials should recognize the hard work of migrant workers who work in hot weather to keep the country fed.“People don’t know the sacrifice, they don’t know what it’s like to eat in the hot sun, they didn’t provide shade before, there were no bathrooms nearby,” she said. “They are the ones who deserve everything.”There is talk in some communities of removing Chavez’s name and replacing it with a more generic honor for farm workers and activists, prioritizing the movement over any individual. In an interview with Latin America, Huerta said streets named after Chavez should be renamed after the movement.“Everything should be named after the martyrs of the farmworker movement. Every street should be named after them,” Huerta said.Moral de Barrios said she would like to see Huerta honored by renaming streets and parks in recognition of the sacrifices she made fighting for farmworker rights and the secrecy she bore “for everything she endured.” She said the charges were a reminder that people have the right to speak out.“We have to make our voices heard,” she said. “We are not anyone’s sexual objects.”Irene De Barraicua, policy and communications director for Líderes Campesinas, a farmworker and women-led organization, told The Times that farmworkers “don’t want to be politicized or romanticized, but simply humanized” and given the dignity of working in safe and fair conditions.Since Chavez’s death in 1993, his name has been honored, including by renaming Old Brooklyn Avenue in East Los Angeles after Chavez. The move sparked controversy among residents who felt the city was erasing their history and leaving them with the cost of replacing the stationery, but over time, naming him after Chavez became shorthand for honoring Latino civil rights and activism. As the legacies of controversial historical figures become mainstream, their existence disappears from public view.The murder of George Floyd in 2020 sparked a nationwide reckoning on race, prompting communities and institutions, including in California, to remove public monuments to former slave owners or prominent Confederate figures. Then there was consideration of the toppling of a statue of Father Junipero Serra, described as the architect of the Roman Catholic missions in California and whose work during the Spanish colonial period marked the beginning of the exploitation and massacre of California’s indigenous people since his arrival in 1769. The debate has intensified as many still hold the Franciscan priest canonized in 2015 in high esteem but statues, including one south of Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles, have been removed. Father Junipero Serra’s removal took months and sparked debate within the Latino community over Serra’s place in history.Catherine Goodis, a history professor and director of the Public History Program at the University of California, Riverside, said it would be easy to remove Chavez from public view.“It’s a terrible idea to move quickly without the truly complex and challenging process required to achieve the superficial illusion of revisionist history,” Goodis said.She thinks the real question is who should be declared the hero. Historians and educators, including Goodis, say that instead of focusing on one person to represent a historical movement or event, greater efforts should be made to elevate lesser-known figures in the community who have contributed to broader causes and with whom the community can resonate and connect.The Cesar Chavez Foundation and his family said Friday they are aware of the city of Los Angeles’ intention to rename the holiday that once celebrated Chavez to honor farm workers and expressed support for the move.“Decisions on how to commemorate this movement and its participants rest with the local communities who organize these recognitions, events and commemorations. This has always been the case,” the foundation’s statement said. “We support and respect whatever decision they ultimately make.”