California School Covers Cesar Chavez Statue After Abuse Accusation

"Two women, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, now in their mid-sixties, accused Chávez of sexually abusing them when they were young teenagers. Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the influential United Farm Workers (UFW) with Chávez, also accused the labor leader of raping her. Huerta became pregnant twice from her two encounters with Chávez, she revealed in a searing statement on Wednesday."

"Fresno State University in California will remove its campus monument to Cesar Chávez in the wake of disturbing sexual abuse allegations against the Chicano civil rights leader. The public university, located not far from where Chávez helmed the farm workers movement in the 1960s, erected a statue in his honor in 1996."

"Like Fresno State University, cultural institutions across the state, including the California Museum in Sacramento, also pledged to remove laudatory references to the figure from public display. In a letter to the campus, Fresno State University President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval announced the school would cover up the bronze statue of Chávez until it could be permanently removed."

Fresno State University and other California cultural institutions are removing monuments and references to Cesar Chávez following sexual abuse allegations. Two women in their mid-sixties, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, accused Chávez of sexually abusing them as young teenagers. Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers with Chávez, also accused him of rape and revealed becoming pregnant twice from encounters with him. Fresno State's bronze monument, erected in 1996 in the Peace Garden alongside statues of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., is being covered with wooden planks pending permanent removal. The California Museum in Sacramento and other institutions similarly pledged to remove laudatory references to Chávez from public display.

Read at Hyperallergic