California lawmakers have voted to rename Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day in an effort to reconcile the Latino labor leader’s legacy with explosive sexual abuse allegations before the state holiday on 31 March.
Democratic governor Gavin Newsom is expected to quickly sign the bill.
The change comes after allegations became public last week that Chavez had sexually abused girls and women during his days building a major farmworker labor rights movement in the 1960s in California’s agricultural heartland. Among those who accused him was Dolores Huerta, who co-led the movement that eventually became the United Farm Workers.
The state’s effort to rename the holiday is part of a wave of other moves to alter memorials honoring the man who, in the 1960s and 1970s, helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and had been admired by many Democratic leaders. The swift and sweeping effort to erase Chavez’s name from public life was previously unthinkable, as his status had only grown more iconic since his death in 1993.
California was the first state to designate Chavez’s birthday, 31 March, as a holiday nearly 30 years ago. The legislature in 2000 passed a bill to make it an official paid day off for state employees and require that students learn about his legacy and his role in the labor movement in California.
The California bill passed in the assembly with bipartisan support on Monday.
“We cannot ignore wrongdoing and we should not continue to celebrate a single person when the movement itself is so much bigger,” assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry said before the vote Monday.
Republican assemblymember Alexandra Macedo said the change was to honor workers and their families.
“This isn’t just about a date on a calendar or a name on a building,” Macedo said. “It is about the hands that feed this nation. It is about the men and women who are in the orchards, in the fields, before the sun even touches the horizon, and who are still there long after it sets.”
Since the allegations came to light, California State University, Fresno, has covered up Chavez’s statue on campus, while San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento have taken steps to erase his name from public landmarks. Some advocated for Huerta’s name to replace Chavez’s, and several states had said they would not observe the day.
Senate pro tempore president Monique Limon said honoring farmworkers is especially important in the face of a series of federal raids across the state last year. A worker in her district died while being chased by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last summer, Limon said.
“His death is a reminder of how much farmworkers risk every day to put food on our table,” she said before the vote. “Our farmworkers remind us that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”
