Few turnout for San Francisco parade renamed after Cesar Chavez allegations
On Saturday morning in San Francisco, the annual parade and festival to honor Cesar Chavez was held with a new name and a new focus. But rainy weather and lingering disgust over the allegations about the disgraced labor leader combined to keep the numbers down.
Mother Nature decided to rain on the parade, but even before that, there was a dark cloud hanging over the annual celebration. The child abuse and sexual assault allegations against Cesar Chavez made for a pretty sparse turnout in an event that, in the past, drew thousands of people.
"Yeah, I guess there's mixed feelings about that right now," said parade-goer Edgar Flores about whether the allegations were reflected in the small turnout. "That's the thing. If there wasn't any rain and people didn't show up, I'd say it was reflected. Otherwise, who knows? I mean, the rain may have had something to do with it. I'm not sure."
The parade and festival were officially renamed for Dolores Huerta, the woman who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Chavez, and who recently admitted in published reports to being a victim of assault herself. Azalia Merrell Dorner helped organize the event and said a lot of thought was immediately put into the renaming.
"It was talked about in advance of the article that was put out and pushed the article forward and allowed us to pivot," she said. "So, you know, it was never about a single person. It's about the workers. It's about the farmworkers growing the food that you serve to yourself, your family. They should always be about the message. And the message is, the workers matter."
But it's hard to pivot to a more generalized message when for so many years it's been about the man himself. And a lot of mythology has grown up around Chavez. In recent years, he was seen as a champion of immigrant rights, when in fact, as a labor leader, he actually pushed for greater border enforcement, viewing immigrants from Mexico as an economic threat to his union members.
Eva Royale has been a UFW organizer for decades in the Central Valley, and she seemed reluctant to erase Chavez's legacy completely.
"How do we want to remember Cesar? Cesar was more than what's being put out now. They don't even cover all the work that he did during his lifetime," she said. "I guess we like to have heroes and people we look up to. But he did so much great work. I mean, I don't see that coming out at all."
But Royale said she is also a friend of Huerta, and she said Huerta recently called to say that she did not want her name substituted on schools and streets currently named for Chavez.
"She's more supportive of having farmworkers being acknowledged," she said. "So, you know, it could be 'Campesino Way,' or something related to the farmworker movement and farmworkers."
But Royale said she fears that the scandal will be used to tarnish Democrat politicians who have enthusiastically embraced Chavez's image in the past. And she said she is concerned that shame over the allegations will lead to voter suppression within the Latino community at a time when they feel they are already under attack.