Across the west, local and state officials are moving to scrub Cesar Chavez’s name and image from schools, streets, murals and holidays honoring the famed labor leader. In San Fernando, California they’ve already pulled down a statue of him.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Across the country, cities and states are moving quickly to erase the name and image of the late union leader Cesar Chavez from public spaces. This week, The New York Times published allegations that he raped his longtime organizing partner Dolores Huerta in the 1960s and sexually abused girls in the 70s when he led the United Farm Workers. NPR’s Adrian Florido reports from one city which decided to act fast – San Fernando, California.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE: San Fernando, north of Los Angeles, is like so many cities and towns across the West. Cesar Chavez’s name and image are everywhere. A high school is named for him. So it is a scholarship the city awards to students. And there’s the Cesar Chavez Memorial Park with a mural and a bronze statue of him. Yesterday, the city council called an emergency meeting to discuss erasing Chavez from all of it.
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JOEL FAJARDO: I was asked today why we would consider moving so quickly on this.
FLORIDO: This is Mayor Joel Fajardo speaking from the dias.
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FAJARDO: To let our children know that we took this seriously, to make sure that we have a society that values the victims, that trusts the survivors.
FLORIDO: Minutes later, the council voted to paint over Chavez’s face on the mural and to remove his statue.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Councilmember Lopez?
PATTY LOPEZ: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Councilmember Mary Solorio?
MARY SOLORIO: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Councilmember Mary Mendoza?
FLORIDO: Right after the meeting, I visited the statue and mural with Olivia Robledo. In the ’60s, she was captivated by the fight for farmworker rights. She marched with Chavez. Today, she’s a retired school principal and a member of San Fernando’s Cesar Chavez Commemorative Committee. After his death in the ’90s, it fundraised for this memorial. It inaugurated it in 2004.
OLIVIA ROBLEDO: This monument, I think, was an effort to honor him and the person we thought he was.
FLORIDO: When she learned of the sexual abuse allegations against him this week, she knew the statue would have to come down.
ROBLEDO: I’m having a little trouble processing all of that. It takes time, you know? And even as I know this monument has to be changed, there are tears that come. And I’m kind of surprised about that. But it speaks to how hard we’ve worked over the years.
FLORIDO: To honor Chavez’s legacy, but more importantly, she says, to fight for the farmworker movement he and Dolores Huerta led. She says, there’s sadness, anger, confusion across the Mexican American community, but also resolve.
ROBLEDO: Probably the older people like myself who marched with him, talked to him, shook his hand – we might have a little hard time with destroying things that have his name. But then I look at the young people, and they are just clear that this has to happen. We need to show them that we will not tolerate a person abusing children or women.
FLORIDO: As we spoke, the city crew showed up to remove the statue. They draped it in a nylon cover, removed the metal bolts at its feet…
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FLORIDO: …And used a tractor to pluck Chavez off of his pedestal and onto the back of a truck. Robledo watched with moist eyes.
Do you think it should happen this quickly?
ROBLEDO: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. There are other parts of the monument that could be saved and should be saved. But a statue honors the person, and he did great things. And as Chicanos and Latinos, we were very proud of him. But as Dolores Huerta says, there was a dark side to this gentleman – well, not even a gentleman – of this man.
FLORIDO: She filmed on her phone as the truck drove the Cesar Chavez statue away. Adrian Florido, NPR News, San Fernando, California.
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