César Chávez sexual abuse revelations reverberate across CA

I’m CalMatters reporter Adam Echelman and I’m subbing in for Lynn today.

Multiple women, including Dolores Huerta, said they endured sexual abuse at the hands of California icon César Chávez.

The abuse detailed by these women came out in a New York Times investigation published Wednesday. Two of the women were children at the time of the abuse. Huerta, who co-led the United Farm Workers union with Chávez , said he pressured her to have sex with him and later raped her, leading to the birth of two children.

The news has ricocheted across California, where Chávez’ name is blazoned on dozens of schools, streets and parks and whose legacy is taught as part of the state’s official curriculum. César Chávez Day, an official California state holiday and a federal commemorative holiday, is celebrated on March 31 every year. 

The state education department said it will be updating its history and social studies curriculum, where students are currently taught about Chávez in fourth, ninth and eleventh grade. Teachers are adapting their lessons in real-time, writes CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones. 

To change the name of the upcoming holiday, the Legislature would have to fast-track a bill and Gov. Gavin Newsom would have to sign it. Assemblywoman Alexandra M. Macedo, a Visalia Republican, introduced a bill to rename it Farmworker Day. 

Asked about renaming the holiday generally, Newsom said he was open to the idea but needed time to process the “shock” of the revelations.

• Gov. Newsom: “How many days I’ve marched, how many times I’ve been with students, talking about the movement, how many photographs I have in my house of Bobby Kennedy and César Chávez. It’s been hard to absorb this.”

San Diego officials may rename César Chávez Parkway, Sacramento leaders are discussing updates to César Chávez Plaza and organizers in San Francisco say they have already renamed their upcoming parade to honor Huerta, not Chávez. Fresno State has covered its César Chávez statue in a black cloth, and the president said the statue will soon be removed.

The revelations hit Kern County particularly hard. Chávez helped found his labor movement in the small town of Delano and later helped oversee its operations in Keene, now home to the federally recognized César E. Chávez National Monument. Last summer, community members pushed Bakersfield to honor farm workers by changing the name of a downtown street in Chávez’ honor. The city council terminated that discussion on Wednesday. 

CalMatters has more here. 

Is California handling its heat waves the way it should?

State leaders have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on plans to address the dangers of extreme heat, which can prove fatal for some vulnerable residents. But how cities and counties actually address the problem varies, and there’s no mandate to turn those plans into action. What’s more, heat is treated like an emergency, not an ongoing public health hazard. 

• Ali Frazzini, policy director for LA County’s sustainability office: “How we prepare for both more extreme heat and chronically higher everyday temperatures is a test of how we protect health, equity, and community in a warming world.”  

A state analysis of the September 2022 heat wave — one of the most dangerous in recent years — showed a 5% increase in overall deaths during that 10-day period. In raw numbers, that’s 395 more deaths than expected.

Read more here.

Aditi Hariharan, a student at UC Davis, remembers watching a close friend struggle with alcoholism their first year on campus. That friend ultimately dropped out. 

Hariharan helped draft a bill, signed into law last year, that requires California’s public colleges and universities to offer students rehabilitation services before taking disciplinary action against them, reports Alina Ta of CalMatters’ College Journalism Network.

• Hariharan: “You can’t engage in recovery if you’re already dead. This legislation allows folks to seek medical care.” 

UC Davis is also one of six UC campuses that have a recovery program on campus, which runs sober events and hosts groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. In 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring most public campuses to make Narcan available to students.

Read more here.