Cesar Chavez Campesino Park and other city owned landmarks in Santa Ana bearing the likeness and name of disgraced labor rights leader, Cesar Chavez, will be renamed after allegations he sexually assaulted two young girls decades ago.
City leaders are the latest to scrub Chavez’s name from local public properties after a multi-year New York Times investigation last month reported he allegedly groomed and sexually abused girls in the labor movement for years and allegedly raped fellow labor leader Dolores Huerta.
On Tuesday, city council members voted unanimously to rapidly drop Chavez’s name from Campesino Park and other city facilities as well as to negotiate employee contracts to rename or replace Cesar Chavez Day with a floating holiday.
Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who called for expunging Chavez’s name and imagery from city properties, said the Farmworkers movement was bigger than one person and hits home for many working class families in Santa Ana.
“It was about the farm workers. It was about all of them who worked out there doing hard labor,” Amezcua said at the meeting. “Not one person, including any of us up here, should become far more important, in my opinion, than the work that we do.”
Amezcua also said the city has to recognize Chavez’s victims.
“We can never ever downplay that,” she said.
Councilwoman Jessie Lopez, who also called for the park’s name to be changed and is running for state assembly, said the community should be involved in the name change and the process.
“We have a lot of families that come from people that worked in the fields. I have residents that have reached out and have said, ‘I used to pick strawberries,’” Lopez said.
“This is really a moment for everybody on this dais and off this diocese to really do better and be better and treat people with respect, and whether it’s misogyny or abuse of any kind, I think it’s important that we all figure a path forward to just be better members of our society.”
Councilman Johnathan Hernandez said the city has to stand with the victims.
“Women and children were harmed by Cesar Chavez. As a father to a 16-year-old daughter, I am proud to stand with those women and children who have bravely come forward and ensuring that Cesar Chavez is not uplifted and celebrated in the city of Santa Ana,” he said.
Santa Ana Grapples With Cesar Chavez Landmarks
In the midst of the fall out, Cesar Chavez Campesino Park will revert to its original pre-2001 name – Campesino Park.
Councilman Phil Bacerra echoed Amezcua’s remarks and said that many Filipinos were part of the farmworkers movement too, calling the original name more inclusive of the workers.
“The return of the name of this park to Campesino Park is reflective of how inclusive the farm worker movement was and the fact that there are a lot of Filipinos that feel like they were ignored and they feel like that they were cast aside despite the valuable contributions that they brought to the farm worker movement,” Bacerra said.
According to a staff report, there is a formal process to rename parks in the city by going through the planning commission but staff are recommending officials ignore the procedure and act quickly to change the name.
“Staff does not anticipate significant risk in proceeding as recommended. To the
contrary, staff finds that there may be greater potential harm in allowing the name to
remain, even temporarily, given the current context and community concerns,” reads the report.
It is not just the park.
City officials will also be covering public art and murals of Chavez like the one in Jerome Park while they work with the artists to get them removed.
Officials will also look at renaming Cesar Chavez Day – a paid holiday – to Farmworkers Day or even sit down with employee unions to discuss making it a floating holiday.
It comes after Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation at the tail end of March immediately renaming Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day.
Staff estimates expunging Chavez’s name and image from city properties could cost up to $15,000.
Reckoning With The Legacy of an Alleged Abuser
Elected officials across OC and California are having a reckoning with the multiple monuments that bear the name or face of Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers union who was once widely celebrated across the state.
[Read: Orange County Reckons With Cesar Chavez Landmarks Following Sexual Assault Allegations]
On Thursday, Anaheim Union High School District leaders are expected to rescind a resolution recognizing March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day and instead mark it as Farmworkers Day after state legislators renamed the holiday following the bombshell allegations.
Santa Ana Unified School District board members in March took their first steps to start renaming César E. Chávez High School, covering any signs or logos with his name and directing staff to form a committee to review the name of other schools as well.
Meanwhile, Santa Ana College administrators covered up two murals of Chavez on campus following the bombshell allegations and covered up his name from the school’s business and computer center
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.