Top California Democrats have moved to officially strike disgraced union boss Cesar Chavez‘s name from an official state holiday — saying they’ll pass a bill to rename to celebration before the end of the month.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he’ll support a plan to rebrand March 31 — celebrated since 2000 as Cesar Chavez Day after the labor activist and accused child rapist — as Farmworkers Day.
California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón are scrambling to pass the bill before the end of the month.
“The farmworkers’ movement was always bigger than just one man or one person. Given the horrendous allegations that were made public for the first time yesterday, this is a welcomed change,” Newsom’s office wrote on X.
State lawmakers must pass a bill for Newsom to sign to rename the holiday, and there appears to be bipartisan support for the move.
Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo separately proposed renaming the day to celebrate the contributions of farm workers instead of Chavez, alongside the Republican-led California Hispanic Legislative Caucus.
“Today, [Rivas] stood up on the Assembly Floor to share the great contributions of farm workers. As a granddaughter of a farm worker, I share his passion,” Macedo wrote on X.
“It is appropriate to rename César Chávez Day to Farmworker Day.”
Officials up and down the state have moved to erase Chavez from dozens of public monuments.
A memorial site in Stockton was covered with a sign reading “Believe Women And Children,” and Fresno State University plans to chuck a statue of the union leader after covering it with a black tarp Wednesday following a report that he groomed and sexually assaulted minors.
Chavez, who was formerly revered as a civil rights activist, co-founded the first union representing farm workers in the 1960s, but allegedly abused two teenage girls and women including Dolores Huerta, his closest ally.
In one shocking revelation, Huerta revealed that she secretly carried two of Chavez’s children, who were raised by others.
Huerta alleged that Chavez raped her in a vehicle and coerced her into sex as the two were running United Farm Workers.
Some lawmakers, such as Assemblymember Matt Haney of San Francisco, have proposed renaming Cesar Chavez celebrations after Huerta, who remains active in politics.
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