FRESNO COUNTY – As communities across the Central Valley scramble to address the recent sexual assault accusations made against political activist Cesar Chavez, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors took action to rename the holiday it previously observed in Chavez’s honor.
At an emergency meeting convened on March 23, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0, with Board Vice Chair Luis Chavez absent, to rename Cesar Chavez Day to Fresno County Farmworker and Agriculture Appreciation Day. Fresno County has observed the state holiday on March 31, Cesar Chavez’s birthday, since its inception in 2000.
“We need to recognize the significant contributions of both the workers as well as the farmers — and farmers work their own farms too, they’re some of the hardest working people out there — but both need each other and here in Fresno County, I think we need to elevate both equally,” Supervisor Nathan Magsig said.
Board Chair Garry Bredefeld said he first proposed the holiday be renamed to Agriculture Appreciation Day, but Supervisor Chavez requested it be named Farmworker Appreciation Day. Bredefeld then proposed to the board combining the two, and a member of the public suggested that “farmworker” come before “agriculture.”
The renaming follows an investigative report by the New York Times in which multiple women said Cesar Chavez sexually assaulted them when they were young girls. Fellow activist Dolores Huerta additionally said Chavez assaulted her on two separate occasions.
Commenting on the matter, Bredefeld said he was troubled by how there were people who knew of these events but did not say anything because they wanted to protect the farmworker unionization movement.
“I hope there’s lessons in that, that when this kind of thing, when people are aware of this, that it needs to be reported, it needs to be exposed, so there aren’t more victims,” Bredefeld said.
Three members of the public spoke at the board of supervisors meeting, expressing their disappointment in the accusations and emphasizing the importance of continuing to recognize the contributions of farmworkers in the Valley.
A bill to rename the official state holiday to Farmworkers Day was introduced in the California State Assembly on March 20. Magsig said that although the county was getting ahead of the state, he saw the action of renaming the county’s observation of March 31 as a way to stop revictimizing the survivors.
Bredefeld and Supervisors Brian Pacheco and Buddy Mendes said they also liked naming the day for both farmworkers and farmers.
“One without the other just does not work,” Bredefeld said.
