Milwaukee's Cesar Chavez Day Canceled Amid Sexual Misconduct Accusations

MILWAUKEE, WI — Milwaukee's annual Cesar Chavez Day will not take place this year following explosive allegations of sexual misconduct against the late labor icon involving women and minors.

The decision was confirmed in a statement made by Alderperson JoCasta Zamarripa, a day after The New York Times published the results of an investigation that found extensive evidence the United Farm Workers co-founder groomed and sexually abused girls who worked in the movement.

"To any survivor who is carrying something heavy today: You are believed, and you are not alone," Zamarripa said in a statement. "Cesar Chavez’s contributions to the farmworker movement and to Latino civil rights are a matter of
historical record. So is this. Both things are true, and our community deserves leaders who will say
so clearly rather than ask survivors to wait while we process our own grief."

The stunning allegations against Chavez, who died more than three decades ago, drew immediate calls to alter memorials honoring the man who, in the 1960s, helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and has been long revered by many Democratic leaders in the United States.

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Labor rights activist Dolores Huerta revealed she was among the women and girls who said they were sexually abused by Chavez.

Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez, one where she was “manipulated and pressured” and another where she was “forced against my will.”

“I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was life’s work. The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights and I wasn’t going to let César or anyone else get in the way,” she said.

Huerta, who is a labor rights legend in her own right, joined Chavez in 1962 to co-found the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America.

Two others, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, also said told The New York Times that Chavez sexually abused them for years when they were girls, from around 1972 to 1977. He was in his 40s at the time.

Murguia said she became so traumatized that she attempted to end her life multiple times by the age of 15.

“I wanted to die,” she said.

In her statement, Zamarripa urged Milwaukee residents to remember that "the farmworker movement was never one man."

"It was built by thousands of workers, organizers, and families who gave their lives to the fight for dignity and justice," Zamarripa said. "Dolores Huerta’s courage and moral clarity built something that outlasts any individual. That legacy belongs to the people."

The Associated Press contributed reporting.