The sexual misconduct scandal undoing the legacy of a formerly regaled, long-deceased Mexican American civil rights leader has moved the Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday to initiate a repeal of the state’s holiday named in his honor.
Cesar Chavez Day was one step closer to being excised from the state holiday calendar with the passage of House Bill 5836, sponsored by archconservative state Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford). The bill passed 103-2. Democratic state Reps. Kara Hope of Holt and Carrie Rheingans of Ann Arbor voted against the bill.
Chavez was the longtime leader and co-founder of United Farm Workers, and was hailed as a hallmark civil rights leader for much of his career. He died in 1993.
Following the revelations, UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta, a hallowed civil rights leader in her own right, also accused Chavez of sexual assault, starting in the 1960s. She kept that secret for nearly 60 years but broke her silence this year.
That has led to the mass renunciation of Chavez on a national scale.
Schriver led that charge in Michigan. In a statement following his bill’s passage, Schriver said that “the evidence against Chavez cannot be ignored.”
“We have detailed accounts from multiple women, including women who say they were abused as minors,” he said. “As lawmakers, we owe it to victims to make sure that we are not using the state government to officially honor Chavez. Continuing to do so would be hypocritical to our standards of accountability, and it would be an insult to his victims.”
Schriver also said that the rescission of the holiday should not detract from the gains made by the farmworker labor movement.
“We are not here to erase the history of American farmworkers,” he added. “This is about separating the dignity of farmworkers from the legacy of Chavez that has been permanently disgraced. We owe it to both victims and laborers to ensure that Chavez no longer receives recognition at the state level.”
In a floor speech prior to the vote, Rep. Veronica Paiz (D-Harper Woods), a member of the Latin community, said the allegations against Chavez were deeply disturbing.
“We must take the survivors’ accounts seriously and respond thoughtfully in how we choose to publicly honor historical figures. Removing the name of Cesar Chavez is a necessary first step, but it is not enough,” Paiz said. “Over the past few days, I have reflected deeply on what justice requires of us at this moment, and I have come to this conclusion we cannot only erase. Justice also requires that we acknowledge the unfathomable harm described by the women who did come forward, and that we recognize many members of the farm workers movement who place their trust in Cesar Chavez’s leadership.”
Paiz put forward a substitute to replace it with a Michigan Farm Workers Day, so that the state could “place the focus where it belongs.”
“If we only remove a name, we risk centering this moment on one individual rather than on the people and the movement that deserve to be honored,” Paiz added.
According to Gongwer News Service, state Rep. Besty Coffia (D-Traverse City) said it was hypocritical of House Republicans to denounce Chavez but not President Donald Trump, who has been accused of numerous allegations of sexual assault or misconduct.
“We have a sitting president in the Epstein Files more than a million times and is being protected ‘for the movement,’” Coffia told the outlet. “Where is the consistency?”
The measure to amend the bill from Paiz was swiftly rejected by House leadership. State Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), the House speaker pro tempore, opened the board for a vote but then gaveled the measure down less than a second later, declaring the substitute as not adopted.
For Nathan Luis Medina, a longtime legislative professional in Lansing and a Mexican American, the contributions of American farmworkers, and the Mexican Americans who helped elevate their cause, should not be represented solely by Chavez.
That rings true, especially now, with Chavez’s legacy in shambles.
“Not all farm workers were Mexicans, nor were most represented by UFW,” Medina told Michigan Advance. “It may be more appropriate to recognize the collective contributions of the whole rather than the memory of any one individual.”
It was in that sense that Medina said he supported the removal of Cesar Chavez Day.
“We don’t need to look nationally to find our own heroes of Mexican descent here in Michigan,” he said. “From Belda Garza, to John Espinoza, to Lee Gonzales, to Vanessa Guerra to emerging leaders like Saginaw’s Angel Gomez, we have our own, living community to be proud — and from very recent history. Not just any individual flawed paragon.”
