Tucson, Pima County to review César Chávez holiday

Pima County, which employs 7,000 people, observes a floating holiday for its workers at the end of March. Supervisors Andrés Cano and Jen Allen both said in the wake of the bombshell investigation by the New York Times, published Wednesday, that the county will revisit the holiday, county assets and streets bearing Chávez’s name.

Cano said he asked that an item be added to the board's Tuesday meeting agenda to rename the holiday, “and to begin the process of removing County assets that bear his name and image.”

“The pain Mr. Chavez caused these women is disgraceful and inexcusable, and we must join these survivors in seeking justice,” Cano said in a written statement. “Too many of our families and neighbors impacted by sexual abuse are taught to grieve in silence. I know this experience firsthand. Silence cannot be the answer. Men need to be allies and speak up when children and women are telling us their truth.”

Allen, the board’s chair, said the news about Chavez “and the girls and women he has traumatized, is destabilizing.”

“Community leaders are always imperfect, but they should never be sexual predators,” Allen said. “I learned organizing from mentors who were organizers in the farmworkers movement — and grew up during the grape boycott.

"I am thankful for the incredible courage of Dolores Huerta, Ms. (Debra) Rojas, and Ms. (Ana) Murguia for speaking out publicly about the assaults they endured while working for farmworker justice," Allen said, referring to women who told the New York Times that Chávez sexually abused them. Rojas and Murguia told the Times the abuse started when they were 12 and 13 in the 1970s. 

"In the coming weeks, we, like other communities across the country, will be revisiting holidays, street names, and events," Allen said. 

Additionally, the city of Tucson, which recognizes March 31 as a paid holiday for city workers in recognition of Chávez and Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America union, will begin working to address the name of the holiday “while continuing to honor workers and acknowledging the work that still needs to be done,” said Mayor Regina Romero.

The City Council had planned to declare March 31, Chávez’s birthday, as "César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Day" during its meeting Tuesday night, but the item was removed from the meeting agenda as news of the allegations spread. The council’s next scheduled meeting is March 31.

In addition to holidays, there is also the Viva César Chávez art installation spanning the Sixth Avenue overpass of Interstate 10, and Jardín César Chávez, a mini park off South Stone Avenue between West 17th and West 18th streets.

Romero, who grew up in Somerton, near Chávez's birthplace of Yuma, said her farm-working parents were one of many families who participated in the UFW’s fight for better wages and better working conditions. Romero was a Tucson City Council member when the city holiday in Chávez's honor was created, and recently, the council added Huerta's name to the local holiday.

The revelations left her “personally devastated,” Romero said.

"The changes that Chávez and the United Farm Workers brought to working families and people working in the fields were significant, and our family was the beneficiary of those changes,” she said, fighting through tears. “I know how important it is to make sure everyone knows health and resources are available to people who need them right now. We must believe survivors and help all heal.”

Council member and Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz said it will take time to know the extent of the harm done by Chávez, but it's important to recognize "that this is not an isolated situation."

"Harm in movement spaces is too common and too often it has been minimized or pushed aside in the name of protecting the work or the legacy of individuals. That has not protected our communities. It has not protected our women and children, and we have to do better," Santa Cruz said. "These victories were bigger than one individual, because they required collective action. Everyone who's participated in protest strikes or marches deserves to be celebrated."

The New York Times, as a result of a five-year investigation, reported Wednesday that it found credible evidence that Chávez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the farmworkers' civil rights movement. Huerta, the UFW co-founder, and others told the Times that Chávez sexually assaulted them.

The same day the Times’ news story was published, Huerta revealed that the sexual abuse she endured from Chávez led to the births of two children, a secret she kept for 60 years. Huerta said she kept her pregnancies a secret, and after the children were born, arranged for them to be raised by other families "that could give them stable lives."