California moves to rename Cesar Chavez Day as “Farmworkers Day” amid abuse allegations against the labor leader

By Tim Fang

Lawmakers in the California state legislature said Thursday that they are introducing a proposal to rename Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against the civil rights and labor leader.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limon (D-Santa Barbara) announced on Thursday that they are putting legislation forward to change the upcoming state holiday on March 31 to “Farmworkers Day.”

The push to rename the day follows an investigation by the New York Times that accused Chavez of abusing young women and minors. Fellow labor leader Dolores Huerta corroborated the allegations of abuse and said that she had two non-consensual “sexual encounters” with him that ended in pregnancies. Chavez and Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in the 1960s, which later merged with the United Farm Workers.   

Limon and Rivas said in a joint statement that California‘s farmworker rights movement was never about one individual. During an Assembly floor remarks on Thursday, Rivas said the movement was built by tens of thousands of workers, which continues to this day.

“We have a responsibility not just to remember that [farmworker] movement but to carry it forward with integrity,” Rivas said. “That is why we are working with Senate pro tem to be introducing legislation to rename Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworker Day, because this moment calls for honesty, it calls for reflection, and it calls for a renewed commitment to the values that the farmworker movement was built on.”

He said he was among those who were taken aback by the allegations against Chavez.

“I am shocked, I am angry and I am deeply, deeply disappointed,” Rivas said.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday also said he was open to renaming Cesar Chavez Day in California. 

Lawmakers and authorities in several cities have moved to remove the name of the civil rights and labor leader from public areas and replace the Chavez holiday. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed a proclamation Thursday naming the last Monday of March in the city as “Farm Workers Day,” while Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn also urged a change to Cesar Chavez Day, celebrated as a formal holiday on March 31 in California, Arizona, Washington and Utah.

On Wednesday, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said a subcommittee was tasked with renaming Cesar Chavez Plaza downtown, In San Francisco, Supervisor Jackie Fielder said she supported removing Chavez’s name from any institutions in her district, which includes Cesar Chavez Elementary School in the city’s Mission District, and the California State University said it was considering “appropriate courses of action” on the facilities and public areas named for Chavez.