Many work to reconcile César Chavez’s labor rights activist legacy with sexual abuse allegations

PHOENIX (AP) — Mary Rose Wilcox and her husband marched and fasted alongside César Chavez. They helped him open a radio station in Phoenix and plastered their Mexican restaurant with photos and a mural of the widely admired Latino icon.

So when Wilcox’s daughter called this week to inform them of sexual abuse allegations that were leveled against Chavez, she said it felt like a punch to the gut.

By Wednesday morning, the couple had taken down Chavez’s photos from their restaurant walls and plan to cover the mural.

“We love César Chavez. But we cannot honor him and we cannot even love him anymore,” said the former Phoenix City Council member.

Many like Wilcox are working to reconcile the legacy of a man who fought tirelessly for the rights of farmworkers with stunning allegations that he sexually abused girls and the co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America union, Dolores Huerta.

Latino leaders and community groups quickly called the alleged abuse by Chavez inexcusable, but they emphasized that the farmworker movement was never just about a single man. Chavez died in California in 1993 at age 66.

There were calls to alter memorials honoring the man who in the 1960s helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and has been long revered by many Democratic leaders in the U.S. The California Museum said it will be removing Chavez from the state’s Hall of Fame – something it’s never done with anyone before.

Some local and state leaders in both parties urged their communities not to observe Chavez’s birthday on March 31 with the typical activities, and to rename buildings and city streets. Celebrations for Chavez in San Francisco, Texas and in his home state of Arizona already were canceled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.

Huerta, who is a labor rights legend in her own right, said in a statement released Wednesday, that she stayed silent for 60 years out of concern that her words would hurt the farmworker movement. She said she did not know that Chavez had hurt other women.

Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez, one where she was “manipulated and pressured” and another where she was “forced against my will.” She said both led to pregnancies, which she kept secret, and that she arranged for the children to be raised by other families.

She joined Chavez in 1962 to co-found the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America. For many, they were akin to Martin Luther King. Jr. and Rosa Parks because of their work advocating for racial equality and civil rights.

The New York Times first reported Wednesday that it found Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. Huerta, too, revealed to the newspaper that she was a victim of the abuse in her 30s.

Chavez is known nationally for his early organizing in the fields, a hunger strike, a grape boycott and eventual victory in getting growers to negotiate with farmworkers for better wages and working conditions.

Streets, schools and parks across the Southwest bear Chavez’s name. California became the first state to commemorate his birthday, and in 2014, then-President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 as national César Chavez Day. President Joe Biden had a bronze bust of Chavez installed in the Oval Office when he moved into the White House.

Biden and Obama have not yet commented on the allegations, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was still processing the news.

Chavez was full of contradictions even when he was the union leader, said Miriam Pawel, a veteran California journalist who wrote a biography of him. There was abusive behaviors within the union, but people didn’t speak out because they believed the union was the best way to protect farmworkers, she said.

“For many, many years, for most of those people, even when they saw things that they found disturbing, they did not wanna talk about it,” Pawel said.

Born in Yuma, Arizona, Chavez grew up in a Mexican American family that traveled around California picking lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops.

Chavez’s family said in a statement that they are devastated by news of the allegations.

“We wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage to come forward. As a family steeped in the values of equity and justice, we honor the voices of those who feel unheard and who report sexual abuse,” the family said.

The Cesar Chavez Foundation pledged unequivocal support for the labor leader’s victims Wednesday and said — with the Chavez family’s support — the organization will figure out its identity going forward.

The United Farm Workers union quickly distanced itself from annual celebrations of its founder, calling the allegations troubling.

Wilcox said Chavez helped people understand that workers at all levels matter by organizing marches and helping enact laws and get contracts for workers.

She said it was heartbreaking to have to take down the pictures that visitors to their restaurant loved to take photos in front of.

“There’s two things: Chavez the man and Chavez the man who we didn’t know,” she said. “And the one we knew, we knew the good things he did and the things we saw put in place. … And the one we did not know is like a monster.”

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Golden reported from Seattle. Figueroa reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California; and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed to this report.