Tucson Mayor Regina Romero has renamed the city’s César Chávez Day on March 31 to Dolores Huerta Day this year, as sexual abuse and rape allegations against Chávez prompt a local and national reckoning over his legacy.
Adam Sarvana, director of communications and community engagement for the mayor’s office, said the change is “a measure for now until there are longer-term conversations with the community and the coalition.”
The New York Times first reported last week that Chávez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. One of his victims, in fact, partly felt compelled to come forward after a recent proposal to name a street near her home for Chávez.
Huerta now 95, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962 with Chávez, revealed to the newspaper that she was a victim of abuse by him in her 30s…