Residents, nonprofits urge city to remove Cesar Chavez name from public facilities after sex abuse allegations surface
City officials said they are open to reviewing the names of a public park and elementary school named for the disgraced farm worker labor organizer.
Long Beach officials are open to reviewing city facilities named for the late labor organizer Cesar Chavez in response to recent media reports highlighting multiple allegations of rape and child molestation against him, the mayor said Wednesday.
Chavez, 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 Wednesday. Both girls were the daughters of organizers who marched alongside Chavez in the fight to improve the lives of farm workers.
Dolores Huerta, a longtime ally of Chavez and key figure in California's labor movement, also recounted her sexual abuse at the hands of Chavez. Huerta told the Times that Chavez 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, who is 96, 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 her statement, posted to Instagram.
In response to the Times story, the Long Beach immigration advocacy group ÓRALE said Chavez's name needs to come off everything in the city.
"We urge the city to consider renaming anything named after Chavez 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."
Mayor Rex Richardson said in an Instagram post Wednesday that the news reports and subsequent statement from Huerta were "deeply troubling" and that the city would take them seriously.
"While the information is still emerging, we will engage our city’s leadership and community in a thoughtful process to consider how we recognize the farmworker movement in our public spaces, holidays, and civic life — including reviewing the naming of public facilities — in a way that is responsive to this moment and grounded in our values," Richardson said.
One commenter under Richardson’s post said the city needs to take swift action.
“People like Cesar Chavez should not be celebrated without accountability for harm,” the commenter wrote. “I ask the city to review public honors, rename spaces where appropriate, and uplift the women whose contributions have been overlooked or exploited.”
In Long Beach, a public park Downtown and an adjoining elementary school bear Chavez’ name. The nearly 33-acre park opened in 1999, while the school opened six years later, according to the city.
Long Beach spokesperson Kevin Lee said that while the allegations surrounding Chavez "are not reflective of the City’s values nor of the core principles of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine," no formal discussions regarding the possible re-naming of Chavez Park have yet taken place.
Lee said city regulations regarding the naming of public facilities require all requests to first be submitted in writing to the City Clerk, who would then transmit them to the Long Beach City Council. These requests could come from city staff, agencies, local organizations or members of the public, Lee said.
These requests would then go to the city's Parks and Recreation Commission for study and then to the Government Operations and Efficiency Committee, all within 30 days of receipt. The Government Operations and Efficiency Committee could then make a re-naming recommendation to the City Council itself, Lee added.
A spokesperson for the Long Beach Unified School District said that Cesar Chavez Elementary School was named "in recognition of the enduring contributions to the farmworkers’ labor movement and advocacy for their families.” While the accusations against Chavez "do not diminish the movement’s work and contributions," the spokesperson said the district recognizes that "his name may no longer evoke that history."
Because of that, the district is "carefully reviewing new information to ensure any next steps are thoughtful and aligned with our values," and will keep the community informed of any updates, the spokesperson added.
In an email to the Watchdog Wednesday night, Michael Core, the parent of a student who attends Cesar Chavez Elementary, said he was “shocked” that the school district’s statement “centered Chavez’s work as opposed to survivors.”
“What does it mean to send my children — my CHILDREN — to a school named after a known pedophile? In what universe is asking families to do that a tenable situation?” Core wrote. “This isn’t a reckoning with the past, it’s an ongoing reckoning with our unfolding present.”
“No elementary school should bear that man’s name,” Core continued. “We look forward to LBUSD course correcting and centering survivors and accountability, not just the bottom line. This culture of sweeping child abuse under the rug continues to harm our children. ”
Alongside Huerta, Filipino-American labor organizer Larry Itliong and countless farm workers, Chavez helped revolutionize agricultural labor in California and across the nation through widespread strikes, boycotts and marches.
When Chavez died at the age of 66, he was considered a hero of the movement. He posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, and his name now adorns many streets, public parks, schools and even a national monument across the U.S.
The slogan "Sí se puede" ("Yes, you can,"), coined by Huerta but often misattributed to Chavez, became the motto of the United Farm Workers of America, and has been used by Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign for president, among many others
Chavez's birthday, March 31, is both a state and federal holiday. In response to the New York Times story, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he's open to altering the holiday.
“I think we need to have those conversations, I think that’s the right thing to do,” Newsom said, according to ABC10 News.
County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes Long Beach, said that while she was horrified by the allegations detailed in the Times story, she was also moved by the women's "incredible courage in telling their stories publicly all these years later," according to ABC7 News.
Hahn called for March 31 to be renamed "Farmworker Day" in Los Angeles County.
Though local labor leaders and other public officials were quick to support Huerta and the other victims and distance themselves from Chavez in the wake of the Times story, some moved more quickly than others.
Though the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which includes 300 affiliated unions and labor organizations representing more than 800,000 workers, issued a strong statement Wednesday from President Yvonne Wheeler in support of the victims, its website still contains a prominent quote from Chavez:
"The fight is never about grapes or lettuce," Chavez says in a blue all-caps font on the Federation's Community page. "It is always about people."
For her part, Wheeler said the allegations in the Times story were "deeply troubling and painful."
"We stand in solidarity with Dolores Huerta and with the women who were harmed and victimized," Wheeler said in her statement. "Their voices matter. Their experiences must be acknowledged with honesty, respect, and a commitment to accountability."
U.S. Representative Nanette Barragán, whose district includes parts of Long Beach, said in a statement that the Times story made her "heartbroken, outraged, and sick to my stomach."
But Barragán said the farmworker movement, which is focused on securing better working conditions and immigrant justice, will go on.
"Today, we are reminded of the need to continue that work and to hold people accountable, no matter their title or history," Barragán said. "We cannot look away."
We need your support.
Subcribe to the Watchdog today.
The Long Beach Watchdog is owned by journalists, and paid for by readers like you. If independent, local reporting like the story you just read is important to you, support our work by becoming a subscriber.
