By Jesse Jones, City Desk ABQ in The Paper. — City officials took swift action Wednesday to initiate the renaming of local sites honoring civil rights organizer and Chicano icon César Chávez following disclosures by fellow activist Dolores Huerta that he pressured her for sex resulting in pregnancies.
City Councilor Joaquín Baca told City Desk midday that he plans to introduce legislation at the next City Council meeting to rename Avenida César Chávez. He said he would likely want to name it after Dolores Huerta and said a few councilors he spoke with support the change.
Later this afternoon, Mayor Tim Keller announced that he would direct city staff “to take a fresh look at how Chávez is recognized across our programs, events and spaces.”House Speaker Javier Martinez also called for similar actions in other sites. ” Chávez’s name should be removed from any and all public entities, swiftly,” he stated in remarks supporting Huerta. Other officials issued similar calls all day.
Her statement follows a New York Times investigation detailing decades of sexual abuse by Chávez, who used women working and volunteering in his Latino civil rights movement for his own sexual gratification. Huerta, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Chávez, said both encounters led to pregnancies…