California leaders reply to Cesar Chavez intercourse abuse allegations

California Democrats reacted with disgust to the surprising allegations of sexual abuse of girls and ladies by labor icon Cesar Chavez — whereas Gov. Gavin Newsom has but to deal with the scandal tearing by the state.

A bombshell New York Occasions investigation printed Wednesday mentioned that Chavez raped and sexually assaulted two ladies who have been as younger as 12, in addition to abusing different ladies, together with his United Farm Staff co-founder Dolores Huerta.

The horrifying studies come simply days earlier than an annual state vacation honoring the late union chief, Cesar Chavez Day, on March 31. It’s unclear whether or not the paid break day for state staff, which was proclaimed final yr by Newsom’s workplace, would proceed as deliberate.

Newsom’s workplace mentioned it will “present remark as soon as data is shared or reported,” Politico reported.

Newsom, who had a press convention scheduled for Wednesday morning in Alameda, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Rumors of a harmful report about Chavez on Tuesday led to a wave of cancellations of occasions and different celebrations in his identify in Texas, California, and Arizona.

“The intense allegations involving Cesar Chavez are devastating,” Senate President Professional Tem Monique Límon and Meeting Speaker Robert Rivas, each Democrats, instructed Politico. “The Legislature will all the time stand with survivors, whose braveness in coming ahead calls for our assist and unwavering dedication to justice with dignity.”

Newsom was among the many many political leaders in California and nationwide who revered Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Staff within the Nineteen Sixties and was credited with enhancing situations for farm laborers.

“Historical past will choose societies and governments…not by how massive they’re or how effectively they serve the wealthy and the highly effective, however by how successfully they reply to the wants of the poor & the helpless,” Newsom wrote on X in 2021.

Of the some 125 faculties, parks, streets, and different areas named after Chavez, roughly half are in California — the place the chief, who died in 1993, achieved an virtually saintlike standing in progressive circles.

Former Presidents Barack Obama, Invoice Clinton and Joe Biden lauded Chavez, with Obama showing at a 2012 occasion at his nationwide memorial in Keene, Calif., and Biden inserting a bronze bust of him within the Oval Workplace.

“The information that he damage younger ladies sickens me. My coronary heart aches for everybody who suffered alone and in silence for years,” Huerta, who’s 95 and stays politically energetic, mentioned in a press release.

“There aren’t any phrases sturdy sufficient to sentence these deplorable actions that he did. Cesar’s actions don’t mirror the values of our group and our motion,” she added.

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