City wants public's help renaming assets named for César Chávez

Long Beach will hold three community meetings in November to get public input on the renaming of parks and other assets named for the disgraced labor leader César Chávez, city officials announced Monday.

The community sessions will deal with renaming César E. Chávez Park, Drake Chavez Soccer Fields, the Drake Chavez Greenbelt, the Drake Chavez Connection and César Chávez Observance Day, according to the city. Officials would also like community members to weigh in on who should replace César Chávez in the Peacemakers’ Mural.

Long Beach Unified School District has jurisdiction over Chávez Elementary School, with officials there removing Chávez's name back in April. The LBUSD Board will vote on a new school naming policy at its Nov. 4 meeting, according to an LBUSD spokesperson.

The district has been collecting public recommendations on a new name throughout September and October, and the Board will consider the proposed new name for the school at its Nov. 18 meeting, the spokesperson said.

For their part, Long Beach officials said they want community members to share their experiences and perspectives as well as offer recommendations for new names.

"The community sessions are intended to be spaces for connection, reflection and healing," read a statement from the city's Office of Equity.

Chávez, one of the most recognizable American labor leaders of the 20th century, repeatedly molested Debra Rojas and Ana Murguia, starting when they were 12 and 13, respectively, throughout the 1970s, the New York Times reported on March 18. Both girls were the daughters of organizers who marched alongside Chávez in the fight to improve the lives of farm workers.

Dolores Huerta, a longtime ally of Chávez and key figure in California's labor movement who died Wednesday at the age of 96, also recounted her sexual abuse at the hands of Chávez. In March, Huerta told the Times that Chávez pressured her to have sex with him in 1960 during a work trip to San Juan Capistrano and raped her six years later in a vehicle parked in a Delano grape field.

After the Times story went live, Huerta posted her own statement saying that both of these "encounters" resulted in her getting pregnant.

"I chose to keep my pregnancies secret and, after the children were born, I arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives,” Huerta said in a statement posted on social media.

In March, after the Times story broke, the Long Beach immigration advocacy group ÓRALE said Chávez's name needs to come off everything in the city.

"We urge the city to consider renaming anything named after Chávez to names that honor all of the farm workers, especially the women, who have contributed to their movement," ÓRALE said in a statement. "Today, we demand a future where accountability is non-negotiable and where we acknowledge that anyone, regardless of their stature, can cause harm. We can no longer tolerate a system and society that protects abusers. Today and every day, we urge you to take action to protect the women and children who continue to be hurt by this abuse."

Within a day of the Times story breaking, Long Beach officials agreed to rename everything with Chávez's name on it.

All of the city's community sessions in November will be free and open to the public. Any displayed materials will also be available in Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog. Light refreshments and children’s activities will also be available at the in-person community sessions, according to the city.

The city's first community session, which takes place on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 5:30 p.m., will be virtual. Those wishing to attend can RSVP here.

The second session will happen at the Jenny Oropeza Community Center in César Chávez Park (401 Golden Ave.) on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. The final session will take place at the Doris Topsy-Elvord Community Center at Houghton Park (6301 Myrtle Ave.) on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Community members who are unable to attend one of the sessions can provide feedback through a community survey, which is available in English, Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog.