LA Podcast - Revision of Labor

Alissa, Rachel, and Sophie discuss the bombshell sexual abuse accusations against the late labor leader Cesar Chavez, including by Chavez’s fellow labor leader Dolores Huerta and two women who were abused as children. A reckoning is underway to erase Chavez’s likeness from public space and rename the March 31 holiday honoring Chavez to Farmworkers Day. Then: LAUSD teachers and staff are set to strike April 14.

Listen below, on Apple Podcasts, or via Spotify.

If you or someone you know is dealing with sexual abuse, please reach out to RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline. Help is available 24/7 by texting HOPE to 64673

The New York Times: “Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years”

“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,” Dolores Huerta wrote in her statement

Before the NY Times story dropped, United Farm Workers issued a statement Tuesday canceling all Cesar Chavez Day related activities: “Far more troubling are allegations involving abuse of young women or minors. Allegations that very young women or girls may have been victimized are crushing”

The Los Angeles Times, also published a story before the NY Timesstory: “’Profoundly shocking' allegations against Cesar Chavez spark soul-searching in movement

Change was swift: Supervisor Janice Hahn was the first to call for a renaming of the March 31 holiday celebrating Chavez’s birthday; California House Speaker Robert Rivas introduced the legislation to change the name to Farmworkers Day that day, and LA Mayor Karen Bass held press conference also calling for a change to Farm Workers Day

“As the UFW looks to move forward, with an understanding of Chavez’s conduct that contradicts his longtime use as a symbol, perhaps they can look to feminism for guidance. Feminists, after all, have learned how to commit to a principle even as one must discard a cult of personality,” Moira Donegan wrote for The Guardian

Meanwhile, UFW held a rally at a federal courthouse in Fresno to protest the Trump administration cutting farmworker pay

Many Boyle Heights residents didn’t want Brooklyn Avenue to be named for Chavez in the first place

Statues boxed, signs covered, murals defaced or repainted: the erasure of Chavez’s name and likeness from public space was just as swift

“Everything should be named for the martyrs of the Farm Workers Movement. Every street should be named after them,” Huerta told Latino USA

LAist: “LAUSD's teacher and staff unions will strike if no deal is reached by mid-April”

“One undisputed example of contracts that went awry is $6 million allotted to AllHere, a tech startup that was hired to design an all-purpose, artificial intelligence chatbot for L.A. Unified. The district spent about $3 million of that contract for a chatbot that was never fully deployed and quickly withdrawn from service when AllHere collapsed financially,” reports the LA Times 

The FBI hasn’t commented on why Superintendent Alberto Carvalho was detained and investigated — and handcuffed outside his home — but sources have said it’s because of the AllHere chatbot contract

One reason LAUSD’s budget is in trouble is due to payouts for sexual misconduct and abuse cases

This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward