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

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

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

By Wednesday morning, the couple had removed Chavez’s photos from the walls of their restaurant and planned to cover the mural.

“We love Cesar Chavez. But we can’t honor him and we can’t even love him anymore,” the former Phoenix city councilor said.

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

Latino leaders and community groups quickly called Chavez’s alleged abuses inexcusable, but they stressed that the farmworker movement was never a one-man affair. Chavez died in California in 1993 at the age of 66.

There have been calls to change memorials honoring the man who in the 1960s helped secure better wages and working conditions for farm workers and who has long been revered by many Democratic leaders in the United States. The California Museum announced it would remove Chávez from the state Hall of Fame — something it has never done with anyone before.

Some local and state leaders from both parties have urged their communities not to celebrate Chavez’s March 31 birthday with the usual activities and to rename buildings and city streets. Celebrations honoring Chavez in San Francisco, Texas and his home state of Arizona have already been canceled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.

Huerta, who is a labor law legend herself, said in a statement released Wednesday that she had remained silent for 60 years, fearing her words would harm the farmworker movement. She said she didn’t know Chavez had hurt other women.

Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chávez, one in which she was “manipulated and pressured” and the other in which 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 for racial equality and civil rights.

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

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

Streets, schools and parks in the Southwest are named after Chavez. California became the first state to commemorate his anniversary, and in 2014, then-President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 as National Cesar 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 yet to comment on the allegations, while California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was still processing the news.

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

“For many, many years, most of these people, even when they saw things that they found disturbing, didn’t want to talk about it,” Pawel said.

Born in Yuma, Arizona, Chavez grew up in a Mexican-American family that traveled across California to pick lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops.

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

“We wish peace and healing to the survivors and salute their courage to come forward. As a family steeped in the values ​​of fairness and justice, we honor the voices of those who do not feel heard and who report sexual abuse,” the family said.

The Cesar Chavez Foundation on Wednesday pledged unequivocal support for the union leader’s victims and said — with the support of the Chavez family — that the organization would uncover his identity in the future.

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

Wilcox said Chavez helped people understand that workers at all levels are important by organizing marches and helping to enact laws and secure contracts for workers.

She said it was heartbreaking to have to remove the photos that visitors to their restaurant liked to take photos in front of.

“There are two things: Chavez the man and Chavez the man we didn’t know,” she said. “And the one we knew, we knew the good things he did and the things we saw put into place. … And the one we didn’t 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.