California Renames Cesar Chavez Day

California’s Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill on Thursday to change the name of Cesar Chavez Day to “Agricultural Workers Day.” This switch will take effect immediately, just ahead of the holiday scheduled for March 31.

This renaming comes in light of sexual assault allegations that have surfaced against the late civil rights and labor leader. An investigation by the New York Times revealed disturbing claims from multiple women, including issues of grooming, sexual assault, intimidation, and rape.

Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers alongside Chavez, stated that he had sexually abused her during the 1960s. She confessed that she hesitated to disclose this earlier, wanting to protect the rights movement for farm workers.

“I have kept this secret with me because it has been my life’s work to build a movement and secure the rights of farm workers,” Huerta expressed. “We were not going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way of our only means of securing those rights.”

Additionally, three other women—Esmeralda Lopez, Debra Rojas, and Ana Murguia—voiced similar experiences of abuse related to Chavez.

The shocking nature of these allegations led several states and organizations to either cancel or rebrand their holiday observances. For instance, Arizona’s Governor Katie Hobbs and Texas’s Governor Greg Abbott subsequently decided their respective states would no longer honor him.

In response, California’s House Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate Pro Tempore Monique Limón collaboratively drafted the bill to change the holiday’s designation.

“California’s farm worker rights movement has never been about a single individual,” Rivas and Limón stated in a joint release on March 19. “This holiday will be a time for California to honor our past, reflect on our present, and renew our collective dedication to equity and justice for farmworkers,” they added.