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Farmworkers Day.”Tuesday is the first time in over 25 years that California and many cities in Southern California will not be celebrating disgraced union leader César Chavez. including Los Angeles County, which heard from Asian American communities across the region.
Many who spoke during last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting said they wanted to see farmworkers and other union leaders centered in those conversations.Chavez was head of the United Farm Workers union and is widely recognized by Latinos and other communities as one of the most influential labor leaders in American history.for the changes. As local leaders tackle the renaming and redefining of Farmworkers Day, she added, it’s also time for another “long-time injustice” to be rectified. “This is also the time for Filipino farmworkers and Filipino farmworker leaders' real roles in the farmworker movement to be truthfully uplifted,” Cabardo said. “Leaders like Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, Pete Velasco, Lorraine Agtang and Luciano Crespo.”Chavez’s legacy had been complicated for years before the explosive investigation, according to Alexandro José Gradilla, associate professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at Cal State Fullerton. “People have, in the last 20, 30 years, already been de-centering César Chavez from the 60s and social movements of the farmworkers. It’s because of the history of sabotaging the Filipino workers, the history of being openly and virulently anti-immigrant,” Gradilla told LAist. “So, I don't have to go back and delete or scrub or erase in my PowerPoints any hero worship or adulation of Chavez. That I think has already been done.”“Anybody who is put in this position of being viewed as a hero, who is given untapped power, whether they are a person of color, queer, a woman, we are all in danger of falling into that trap,” Gradilla said. “That's the more important lesson that we cannot submit to this cult of personality that can happen. And apparently, in the case of the farm worker movement, that did happen.”Many community members who spoke during public comment at last week’s L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting were in support of the holiday name change. But many also think the work to de-center Chavez shouldn’t end there. Community members have also called on leaders to remember the names of the Filipino workers who drove the farmworkers union toward success. Aquilina Soriano Versoza, executive director of the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California, said inspiration from the farmworker movement catalyzed the organization. “ We are a strong organization of strong Filipino domestic workers, immigrant workers,” Versoza said. “We support the inclusion of the community-driven process that centers survivors, and we need to make sure that we rectify that Filipinos are also uplifted in this process, so we honor everyone who should be honored as the Farm Workers movement.”“While César Chavez is widely recognized, the movement itself was ignited in 1965 by Filipino farm workers led by Larry Itliong and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee,” Friedman said. “They initiated the Delano grape strike. Organized, mobilized, and took the first risk. Yet their contributions have been largely underrepresented in our textbooks, public commemorations, and collective memory.” When the truth of the full history fails to be acknowledged, Friedman added, future generations are denied the richness of solidarity between the Filipino and Latino communities. Mayra Castañeda, a member of the SEIU United Healthcare Workers, said the name change better reflects the legacy of farmworkers. “Establishing Farmworkers Day is an opportunity to uplift the collective contributions of farm workers across generations, many of whom remain invisible despite the essential work they do every day,” Castañeda said. “It also helps educate future generations about the ongoing struggles for labor rights, equity and the respect in the field.”L.A. County officials will report back to the board in the coming weeks with more on renaming streets, buildings, monuments and programs that bear Chavez’s name.In the aftermath of the sexual abuse allegations against César Chavez, farmworker communities are reeling — especially in Central California, which became the cradle of the farm labor movement.The city of Delano was home to the first headquarters of the United Farm Workers labor union, which Chavez cofounded in the 1960s and has been lobbying for reforms to farm labor ever since. He's long been considered a local hero. Some in Delano are pushing for statues and murals memorializing Chavez to be taken down. The Delano Joint Union High School District voted last week to rename Cesar E. Chavez High School. And city leaders are likely to discuss renaming the city's Cesar Chavez Park in a city council meeting in early April.:"Everything that we want to take into account, for how does accountability look like at the Delano level, will be on the table," said city councilmember Bryan Osorio. But he's not certain the city council will vote to make changes, because there's a lot of resistance there. Chavez's union helped transform conditions for farmworkers – including higher pay, work breaks, and even bathrooms, which weren't guaranteed in the fields. That changed people's lives. And that's why, Osorio says, many are struggling with the allegations against Chavez. Some even feel angry at his accusers.DELANO, Calif. — A few hours north of Los Angeles, the small city of Delano is surrounded by miles and miles of grapevines, orange groves and almond orchards. According to Monike Reynozo, everyone here either works in those fields, or knows someone who does.Reynozo works for a youth advocacy group known as Loud For Tomorrow, but she said her parents were farmworkers, and their parents before them. On a recent spring morning, she's walking down an alley to a brightly colored mural that covers the side of a building in the center of town. It shows people in sun hats harvesting fruit, and a little girl proudly holding a bunch of plump, purple grapes. "It really showcases some of our local farm labor movement leaders as well as the diverse faces of Delano," she said. One of the most prominent faces on the mural is César Chavez, who lived in Delano for nine years. The city was also home to the first headquarters of the United Farm Workers labor union, which he cofounded in the 1960s and has been lobbying for reforms to farm labor ever since. He's long been considered a local hero. Monike Reynozo, associate director of programs for the non-profit Loud for Tomorrow, stands in front of a mural depicting Cesar Chavez and other leaders of the farm labor movement in downtown Delano, Calif. on March 29.A mural depicting civil rights icon Cesar Chavez, along with other leaders of the farm labor movement in downtown Delano, Calif. on March 29. In the fallout of the sexual abuse allegations against Chavez, many landmarks are under review to be renamed and his likeness is being taken down across California.alleging the late civil rights leader sexually abused young girls in the 1970s, and raped his longtime ally and co-leader in the farmworkers labor movement, Dolores Huerta in the 1960s. The investigation came out nearly two weeks before Chavez's birthday – March 31 – which has long been a holiday in many places. And in the aftermath of the allegations,, have scrambled to rename the day. Meanwhile, farmworker communities are reeling – especially in Central California, which became the cradle of the farm labor movement. As Reynozo looks up at his portrait, she says the allegations against him are heartbreaking. He was one of her role models. But she thinks this mural – and the farmworker narrative – don't need him anymore. "He's just one individual amongst, you know, thousands of people who have been fighting for this and continue to fight for it," she said. Some in Delano are pushing for similar changes. The Delano Joint Union High School District voted last week to rename Cesar E. Chavez High School. And city leaders are likely to discuss renaming the city's Cesar Chavez Park in a city council meeting in early April. "Everything that we want to take into account, for how does accountability look like at the Delano level, will be on the table," said city councilmember Bryan Osorio. But he's not certain the city council will vote to make changes, because there's a lot of resistance here. Cesar E. Chavez High School in Delano, Calif. After sexual abuse allegations came out against Cesar Chavez, local students organized a petition to change the name of the school.Cesar E. Chavez Park in Delano, Calif. In the fallout of the sexual abuse allegations against Chavez, the park is under review to be renamed by city council.Chavez's union helped transform conditions for farmworkers – including higher pay, work breaks, and even bathrooms, which weren't guaranteed in the fields. That changed people's lives. And that's why, Osorio says, many are struggling with the allegations against Chavez. Some even feel angry at his accusers. "This man was a huge part of Delano's history, is still part of Delano's history," Osorio said."There's always going to be folks who are skeptical." That includes Armando Pulido. He picks grapes in the nearby town of Earlimart. And like a lot of farmworkers in the area, he says he doesn't believe Chavez's accusers. "I think everything is a lie, that they made up, because they came out with it now after Chavez died," he said in Spanish."Why didn't they bring it up while he was alive?" "When people say, why didn't you leave? Why didn't you tell people? Well, this is why, because I felt that my coming out and saying what occurred would have hurt the movement," she said. United Farm Workers leaders Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez display photos of the conditions that farmworkers endure in San Joaquin Valley farm labor camps at a news conference outside U.S. District Court in Fresno, California, on Nov. 21, 1989.reported that some people had previously been made aware of abuse claims by two other women – Ana Murgia and Debra Rojas – and nothing came of it. They cited internal emails among union members about Murgia's claims going back over a decade. And they also said Rojas posted a message over ten years ago about Chavez's alleged abuse to a private Facebook group for longtime Chavez organizers and supporters – and"was accused by some who saw it or heard about it of jeopardizing all that had been accomplished." NPR has not independently confirmed these details.Whether or not the city ultimately erases Chavez's name from public spaces, some think this is an opportunity to highlight other pivotal labor leaders – including Filipino organizerItliong, who was born in 1913, organized farmworkers for decades before Chavez and Huerta came along. And Filipino workers under Itliong's leadership started the"A lot of Filipinos, to this day, we always say: without Larry Itliong, there'd be no Cesar Chavez," said RogelioCesar Chevez's Huelga Day March in San Francisco, 1966: Julio Hernandez , Larry Itliong , and Cesar Chavez.Gadiano worked in the fields off and on from childhood into middle age. Today, he leads tours of local historical sites that were important to the early farm labor movement. That includes, a sprawling site on the outskirts of town that held the UFW's first headquarters as well as a retirement village for aging Filipino farmworkers."We got buried in history," he said."We were the spark, the ultimate spark."The finalists for the James Beard awards were announced this morning. Several LA chefs and restaurants advanced to this next stage, an impressive achievement given the stellar competition.The James Beard awards are often called the Oscars of the food world, and advancing to this stage will mean more attention.. and months of booked-up reservations.The finalists for the James Beard Awards were announced this morning. Four Los Angeles chefs advanced to this next stage, while several restaurants also made it through, an impressive achievement given the stellar competition. The James Beard awards are often called the Oscars of the food world, and advancing to this stage will mean more attention and months of booked-up reservations.If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less., featuring Ryan Gosling is leading the box office, and if it has you thinking about the outer galaxies, L.A. has a number of places you can explore to learn more.“We have Jupiter that is really popular right now and its four Galilean moons, we’re starting to be able to see Venus. But the big showstopper this time of year is probably still Orion’s nebula,” said Keith Armstrong,: From the Garvey Ranch Observatory in Monterey Park to a space museum in Downey, keep reading to check out our list of places to explore space around L.A.is leading the box office, and if it has you thinking about the outer galaxies, L.A. has a number of places you can explore to learn more.“We have Jupiter that is really popular right now and its four Galilean moons, we’re starting to be able to see Venus. But the big showstopper this time of year is probably still Orion’s Nebula,” Armstrong said.The observatory, where the Los Angeles Astronomical Society is based, is open to the public every Wednesday from 7:30 to 10 p.m. It has an 8-inch refractor telescope, but Armstrong says folks are welcome to bring their own devices and get help on viewing from a society member. The observatory, founded in 1904, is housed in the San Gabriel Mountains and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ticketed tours are also available on the weekends and at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. during the spring and summer months. The center is a space museum owned by the city of Downey with interactive exhibits for people to learn about space shuttle operations. Admission is $5 a person . Home to the space shuttle Endeavor, the science center is free to the public and houses a number of hands-on exhibits, plus IMAX movies.The lab hosts a limited number of free in-person tours with advanced reservation. The next tour dates for June will be released on Monday, April 6, at 9 a.m..After several days of warm weather, Southern California is in for a cool down. Rain clouds are in the forecast that could bring a tenth of an inch of rainfall to the region this afternoon.Riverside and San Bernardino County mountains, including the Coachella Valley, are under a wind advisory. Strong winds will kick in around 8 p.m. when gusts could reach up to 50 mph in some areas. Wind advisory for Riverside, San Bernardino, Riverside County mountains and Coachella Valley goes in effect at 8 p.m.Cloudy skies are in the forecast all day as we anticipate some light rain this afternoon, about a tenth of an inch, that could carry into Wednesday morning. Temperatures at the beaches will reach the upper 60s to low 70s, and in the low to mid 70s for the valleys and inland areas. The National Weather Service has also issued a wind advisory for the San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains, including the Coachella Valley, where wind gusts could reach up to 50 mph.
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