Óscar A. Contreras is a Murrow-nominated journalist who has been writing for the E.W. Scripps Company since January 2014.
DENVER — The City of Denver will remove César Chávez’s name from a park and will work with community leaders to rename the holiday created in his honor as the fallout from sexual abuse allegations against the Latino labor leader continued to reverberate across the country.
“Our first commitment is to honor the courage of the women and girls who spoke up about the injustice that they suffered while being called to this work,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said outside the City and County building, as he announced the city would also remove a bust and plaque erected in his honor at César Chávez Park in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood. The park had already been vandalized before Johnston’s announcement Thursday. A concrete marker bearing the labor leader’s name had been spray-painted in black while a wooden box covered his plaque. Hand-written signs unofficially labeled the site as “Dolores Huerta Park.” Johnston’s announcement comes a day after community leaders and a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said the city’s annual march and celebration honoring the long-admired Latino activist were canceled in light of an explosive New York Times investigation this week, which revealed Chávez had groomed and sexually abused young girls while he led the United Farm Works union in the 70s. To honor the courage and commitment of those women, including Dolores Huerta — Chávez’s most prominent ally in the farmworker movement — Johnston said the city will instead mark March 31, a federally proclaimed holiday honoring the Latino labor rights activist, as a day to honor the people who made the farm worker movement possible. “We will not let the sins of one man set back the commitment of a community who has fought for decades to deliver on the fundamental belief that everyone is entitled to justice,” Johnson said. “We think it is actually more important than ever to celebrate that movement.” The mayor, joined by Denver City Council President Amanda Sandoval and other city officials, said he met with community leaders Wednesday night at Su Teatro Cultural & Performing Arts Center in Denver’s Santa Fe Arts District to discuss how the city would reckon with Chávez’s legacy across the city.“Folks said over and over: This movement was never about one man. It was always about one big idea. And that idea is “sí se puede” – a rallying cry coined by Huerta that would become the embodiment of the labor rights movement. “Sí se puede – yes, we can demand more. Sí se puede – yes, we can organize workers. Sí se puede — yes, we can insist that everyone is seen. Sí se puede — we can insist that no one is illegal in this country. Sí se puede,” Johnson said, to thunderous applause, as he announced March 31 will celebrate “Sí Se Puede” as a holiday.Johnston said “Sí Se Puede” Day was chosen as a celebration this year as it “seemed like the right idea to capture that movement” given the New York Times’ investigation but won’t be how the city and county will celebrate the legacy of the farmworker movement going forward.The mayor said his administration will a start a community process engaging Latino labor rights leaders, possibly including Huerta, “to have a thoughtful conversation” about how the city will rename not just the holiday, but the park and other city properties that carry a name that has abruptly become a stain in history.Sandoval, the granddaughter of a farmworker and a union leader, said through tears that learning about the serious allegations against Chávez was deeply personal for her.“Yesterday’s news was shocking. It was heartbreaking,” Sandoval said. “And for many of us, it has shaken something deep.”Acknowledging the pain of the survivors and their families, Sandoval said the harm described in those allegations is real. “To say it clearly: We see you, we hear you, and most importantly, we believe you.”The allegations against Chávez, who died more than three decades ago, drew immediate calls to change events and memorials honoring the man who in the 1960s brought to light the struggles of field workers.In a statement released Wednesday, Huerta said she stayed silent for 60 years out of concern that her words would hurt the farmworker movement. Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez, one where she was “manipulated and pressured” and another where she was “forced against my will.”“I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was life’s work. The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights and I wasn’t going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way.”Within hours of those allegations, cities across the country that revered the now-disgraced labor leader took action to remove his name from parks, schools and buildings.The Associated Press identified more than 130 locations or objects in at least 19 states named after Chávez.In Fresno, university leaders at the state university there draped a black cloth over a statue of the late labor leader, while state lawmakers plan to rename the holiday which has been observed across the country for the last 25 years on March 31.The Labor Department has also removed a portrait of the Latino labor activist, and covered up his name in its Washington headquarters, according to the New York Times.There are now efforts to rename the day in honor of Huerta, including here in Denver, which has observed the last Monday in March as César Chávez Day since 2001.During Thursday’s news conference, a woman standing behind Johnston held a sign that read, “¡Que Viva Dolores Huerta!” . It remains to be seen if the Berkeley park will be renamed in her owner.Sandoval said removing the sign and bust was not an easy decision, but it was a necessary one.“Because the labor movement, the farmworker movement, that history, is bigger than any one person. It belongs to the people — La Raza,” Sandoval said. “It belongs to the workers, the families, and the generations who sacrificed for dignity and justice.'The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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