Austin Processes Cesar Chavez Abuse Accounts

Bertha Rendon Ortiz, born and raised in East Austin and still here after 47 years, is proud to be the daughter and granddaughter of farmworkers and labor organizers. 

Her father was an Austin Brown Beret, part of the resident militant group that defended Mexican American residents in East Austin from police brutality through the Seventies and Eighties. Her grandfather organized for farmworkers alongside Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez. Today, Ortiz leads Arte Texas, a group that creates and restores Austin murals that celebrate Chicano history and culture, including one 2023 mural of Chavez.

“As a little girl, watching them mobilize to fight for justice, fight for equal rights, is all we knew,” Ortiz remembered. She had looked to Chavez as a mentor, as co-founder with Dolores Huerta of United Farm Workers, which used boycotts, strikes, and fasts to win better pay and protections for farmworkers. Her parents told her stories about La Paz, the compound north of Los Angeles where some union families lived. 

“Marching with him on Chavez Street, which was at the time known as First Street, was a very powerful thing as children, to be a part of the Chicano movement,” Ortiz continued.

When she heard that The New York Times had published an investigation on March 18 that revealed Chavez had abused young girls, it shook her deeply. “I cried, I cried, I cried. I was angry, I was upset, I didn’t understand,” she said.

Ana Murguía and Debra Rojas, both now 66 years old, told the Times that Chavez had sexually abused them for years in the Seventies, when Chavez was in his 40s and they were as young as 12 and 13. 

The five-year-long investigation reports that the abuse occurred at the La Paz compound and while Chavez traveled with the union for events. The two accounts are corroborated by several sources, including family members and individuals who knew the women at the time.

On the same day the Times investigation published, UFW co-founder and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta revealed that she had also been sexually abused by Chavez as a young mother in the Sixties. “I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,” Huerta wrote. 

“The knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me. … Cesar’s actions do not reflect the values of our community and our movement,” Huerta continued. Huerta’s own sexual abuse by Chavez had led to two pregnancies, and she decided to place the children with families “that could give them stable lives.”

“The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual,” Huerta wrote. “Cesar’s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.”

The UFW has canceled all of its planned Cesar Chavez Day activities this month, stating the allegations “go against everything” the union stands for. “These disturbing allegations involve inappropriate behavior by Cesar Chavez with young women and minors, they are shocking, indefensible and something we are taking seriously,” the group wrote in a March 17 statement.

At the state level, Gov. Greg Abbott declared that the state of Texas will not observe Cesar Chavez Day, writing March 18 that he will work to remove the holiday from state law. Following Abbott’s statement, the Texas Education Agency directed school systems on March 23 to remove any mention of Chavez from lessons and classroom materials. 

Locally, ahead of Cesar Chavez Day on March 31, Austin has canceled its annual Cesar Chavez parade scheduled alongside other cities across the country. 

The Austin City Council Latino Caucus, along with other city leaders, have also called for a renaming of Cesar Chavez Street through Downtown Austin, which was changed from First Street in the early Nineties. Ultimately, City Council must approve the street name change.

“The center of our city and the heart of East Austin should reflect our commitment to justice. We support the renaming of Cesar Chavez Street and will begin the discussion with the community at the forefront,” Council members Vanessa Fuentes and José Velásquez, Mayor Pro Tem Chito Vela, and Travis County Attorney Delia Garza wrote in a joint statement.

Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax also called for a renaming of the prominent street. “We firmly believe that the right thing to do is move forward to remove his name from the street that runs through the heart of our city,” Broadnax said in a statement.

The caucus is still developing a process for community feedback and will post more information soon, Fuentes told the Chronicle. “My personal guiding North Star in the renaming of Cesar Chavez Street is to ensure that we find a name that continues to uplift the Latino community, that celebrates our Latinidad, and that pays homage to the labor movement,” Fuentes said.

Velásquez still remembers when Chavez visited his East Austin elementary school decades ago, and said the news of the abuse was gut-wrenching. “But you know, no movement is defined by one man, and especially this movement,” Velásquez said. 

Both Fuentes and Velásquez emphasized the importance of still honoring the history of the Chicano and farmworkers’ movement. “To me, what’s important is that we don’t neglect or undo that progress that was hard-fought and won for migrant farm workers, that had ripple effects for Latinos all over the country,” Fuentes said.

“I want to see us have a march,” she continued. “There’s other ways we can continue to uplift the movement, the cause, and recommit to action that still honors what was achieved, because it was a collective achievement. That piece is paramount.”

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