AS RESIDENTS REMAIN SPLIT about the once revered Latino civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, the Stockton downtown library moniker will remain unchanged — though covered for now.
The Stockton City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to remove Chavez’s name from public view at the city’s central library, one which in 1994 was renamed to honor the farmworker icon tied to the Central Valley.
“It’s a tough decision,” said Councilmember Brando Villapudua, one of the council’s four members of Latino descent. “ As a Hispanic male … That was our man.”
Chavez’s name on the library, which stretches across the building’s front facade, will be covered “soon,” a city spokesperson told Stocktonia on Wednesday, though officials do not yet have a firm date to share publicly at this time.
The vote, which also approved the creation of an ad hoc committee to decide whether to eventually rename or remove the name, comes more than a month after a New York Times investigation detailed profound evidence that Chavez sexually abused and groomed two young girls starting at ages 13 and 15.
Dolores Huerta, a Stockton native who founded the United Farm Workers union with Chavez and Larry Itliong, also told The Times that Chavez had forced her to have sex with him twice. Each led to pregnancies she saw to term, a secret she “could no longer stay silent” on, she said in statements posted online the day the investigation was published.
Decision creates discord
The Chavez discussion was put on hold from a council meeting earlier this month, where lines of residents waited hours to give comment. Despite the extensive report from the paper, some residents called removing the name premature and that “allegations are not proof,” as resident Alicia Ramirez stated at Tuesday’s meeting.
Villapudua later added that removing the name felt “a little fast,” and said he was not aware of any other schools or spaces in Stockton moving to do the same.
“I’m not saying it’s not important, but we have bigger problems,” he said, noting that more pressing issues in the city involved “crime, jobs” and “community.”
Just days after The Times report, the San Joaquin Delta College moved to cover a ceramic mural depicting Chavez as they assess his legacy within the campus.
Councilmember Mario Enríquez, addressing skeptical residents, asked “how many people actually read” the investigation detailing the abuse allegations.
“It’s more about just one man, it’s about the movement,” said Enríquez, adding that conversations about Chavez’s legacy had no room for not “believing survivors.”
Vanishing act
Almost overnight following the Times investigation, cities across the country moved to do away with the Chavez name. In Fresno, council leaders had unanimously voted to remove Chavez’s name from a major boulevard almost immediately after The Times’ investigation. Miles away, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an order to remove references to Chavez on all city-owned assets and redesignated March 31, formerly known as Cesar Chavez Day, as “Farmworkers Day.”
As for the state holiday on March 31 on Chavez’s birthday, state leaders also renamed it to Farmworkers Day, echoing decisions made by cities like Denver and Phoenix.
The central library, which opened in 1964 as the Central Public Library, was rebranded in 1994 to honor Chavez. At the time, residents and local activists had called the labor leader and “icon” who inspired “thousands” of farm workers.
Another building in Stockton, like the nearly 130 other spaces and monuments across the United States, according to The Associated Press, still bears the Chavez name — Cesar Chavez High School.
At the time when the Chavez allegations surfaced in mid-March, a Stockton Unified spokesperson said changing the school’s name could only come after a public hearing took place and once an advisory committee was formed.
The spokesperson did not respond Tuesday to request for an update about whether SUSD will change the name of the high school.
This story originally appeared in Stocktonia.
