Some question if Chicago school should be renamed after César Chavez sex abuse allegations

**Allegations Against César Chavez Shake Chicago’s Latino Community**

CHICAGO (WLS) — Allegations of sexual abuse against civil rights and farm labor icon César Chavez are reverberating through Chicago’s Latino community. An extensive investigation by the New York Times detailed years of alleged abuse and grooming involving young women and underage girls who were part of the movement.

Local leaders have expressed both shock and anger over the bombshell allegations against Chavez, who died in 1993. These revelations are forcing many people and communities to grapple with his legacy, which now stands in stark contrast to the allegations leveled against him.

Chavez was revered in the labor movement as a civil rights champion for farm workers and immigrants in the 1970s. Puente, whose parents were immigrant farm workers who picked grapes, describes the Times investigation uncovering the allegations as his “moral death.”

“As a high school student, I picketed grocery stores. I went to marches. I worked with organizers. So it was very much my political and social formation, as well as my formation around justice and equity,” Puente said.

In Chicago, questions are now arising about whether the school named after Chavez in the Back of the Yards neighborhood should be renamed. At the Haymarket Memorial, which commemorates labor struggles through the years, a plaque honoring Chavez is currently covered with black tape.

Additionally, a mural outside Cafe Tola in the Southport Corridor that honors Chavez will be repainted with a picture of Dolores Huerta, according to the restaurant’s head of operations. Huerta co-founded the National Farmworkers Association with Chavez in the 1960s.

Huerta, now 95, came forward after learning of the allegations made against Chavez. According to the New York Times, she alleges Chavez pressured her to have sex with him in her 20s and later raped her.

“For me, I think it’s an opportunity to take a step back, reflect, take a deep breath and ask, how do we heal after the abuse? And how do we hold leaders such as César Chavez accountable?” said Angela Anderson Guerrero, president and CEO of Mujeres Latinas en Accion.

Puente added, “Everything that’s named César Chavez, in my opinion, should be renamed Dolores Huerta. Or it should be the people’s movement for justice and equity.”

In response, a spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools said: “District and school leaders work with faculty, staff, families and students to create inclusive and respectful school environments. Leadership at Cesar E. Chavez Multicultural Academic Center has begun the process of soliciting feedback from its school community on the decision to consider a school name change and will need to take any recommendation to its local school council for review as part of the comprehensive process that is detailed in Board policy.

“If the Cesar E. Chavez Multicultural Academic Center does initiate a name change, it will go through this open and public process to ensure that a new school name represents the values of its school community.”
https://abc7chicago.com/post/chicago-latino-leaders-angered-abuse-allegations-cesar-chavez-question-back-yards-school-should-renamed/18737749/

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