He was a champion of the civil rights movement and a hero to many Latinos. His name was carved in stone and his likeness cast in bronze on monuments across the United States.
Today he is an outcast.
On Wednesday, a New York Times investigation revealed that United Farm Workers union co-founder Cesar Chavez sexually abused women and girls, including union co-founder Dolores Huerta. Since then, the city, state and school have tried to erase their association with him.
The statue was covered and the festival was canceled. But that's just the beginning, with Chavez's name associated with countless buildings, parks and schools. Here are images of the first steps to tear down the monument to the man who died in 1993 and focus instead on the movement he started and others continue today.
San Fernando, California
The San Fernando City Council voted immediately to remove the statue in Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Park and seek new names for spaces and schools named after the labor leader. Mayor Joel Fajardo said urgency was needed “to let our children know that we take this seriously and to ensure a society that values ​​the victims and trusts the survivors.”
Fresno, California
At Fresno State University, a statue of Cesar Chavez was covered with a black tarp on Wednesday, then hidden in a plywood box and removed on Friday. “We will take the time to listen, learn, and act in a way that honors our history and honors our ongoing responsibilities to each other,” the university's president, Saul Jiménez Sandoval, said in a statement.
