Kevin Lind is a staff writer for the Deseret News on the Ideas and Culture team, covering the Intermountain West.
SALT LAKE CITY — The New York Times published an investigation Wednesday into the life of Cesar Chavez, the influential and beloved leader of the 20th century labor movement whose legacy is now being questioned as a result of the disturbing findings.
And cities across the country, including in Utah, that have streets named after him are digesting the news or already reconsidering those designations as well as canceling annual celebrations that honored him.The newspaper found "extensive" evidence, including personal testimonies from victims, that the Latino leader of the United Farm Workers had sexually abused girls and women inside the worker's rights movement during his leadership.One of his victims was Dolores Huerta, a contemporary to Chavez and a well-known labor rights activist, herself."I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for," Huerta wrote in a statement. "I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences."The United Farm Workers, the union Chavez formed with Huerta and several others, also issued a statement Wednesday. It wrote "that one of the union's co-founders, Cesar Chavez, behaved in ways that are incompatible with our organization's values." Cesar Chavez is shown during a rest period at a school on the outskirts of Sacramento during march, Aug. 1, 1975. Chavez was recently accused of sexual abuse in a New York Times investigation. "These allegations have been profoundly shocking. We need some time to get this right," read the statement. "The United Farm Workers will not be taking part in any Cesar Chavez Day activities."As the news spread, elected officials have been issuing statements and making changes to planned celebrations and parades."The allegations of rape and sexual abuse are likely to have far-reaching consequences," wrote Sarah Hurtes and Manny Fernandez, the reporters who published the story.What was revealed about Chavez?Huerta worked together with Chavez for decades while they built one of the largest lasting labor unions in America.During that period, Chavez forced Huerta into two unwanted sexual encounters. In Huerta's statement, she explained how both led to pregnancies, which she kept secret — both the pregnancy and the children — up until this week."I am telling my
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