DELANO, Calif. – A few hours north of Los Angeles, Delano is surrounded by grapevines, orange groves and almond orchards. “This is what drives and fuels our city,” said Monike Reynozo, whose parents and grandparents worked in the fields. Reynozo now works for the youth advocacy group Loud For Tomorrow.
A mural in downtown Delano celebrates local farm labor leaders and harvesters; one prominent face is Cesar Chavez, who lived in Delano for nine years and cofounded the United Farm Workers (UFW). Chavez has long been considered a local hero.
But earlier this month the New York Times published an investigation alleging Chavez sexually abused young girls in the 1970s and raped longtime ally and co-leader Dolores Huerta in the 1960s. The report came days before Chavez’s birthday, which has long been observed in many places. In the aftermath, some states, including California, have moved to rename the day, and landmarks and statues across California are being reconsidered or removed. Farmworker communities, especially in Central California, are reeling.
As she stands by the mural, Reynozo called the allegations heartbreaking. “He was one of her role models,” she said, but added that the mural and the movement “don’t need him anymore. He’s just one individual amongst, you know, thousands of people who have been fighting for this and continue to fight for it.”
There is no consensus in Delano about how to respond. Across California, Chavez statues have come down and officials are exploring renaming public spaces. In Delano the school district voted to rename Cesar E. Chavez High School, and the city council is likely to discuss renaming Cesar E. Chavez Park. “Everything that we want to take into account, for how does accountability look like at the Delano level, will be on the table,” said city councilmember Bryan Osorio. Still, he expects resistance.
Chavez’s union secured concrete gains for farmworkers—higher pay, breaks, access to bathrooms—and for many residents that legacy complicates the fallout. “This man was a huge part of Delano’s history, is still part of Delano’s history,” Osorio said. Some locals, including grape picker Armando Pulido, say they don’t believe the accusations. “I think everything is a lie… Why didn’t they bring it up while he was alive?” Pulido asked.
Huerta explained in an interview that she delayed speaking publicly because she feared the consequences for the movement. “When people say, why didn’t you leave? Why didn’t you tell people? Well, this is why, because I felt that my coming out and saying what occurred would have hurt the movement,” she said.
The New York Times also reported that others had raised claims earlier—citing internal emails and a private Facebook post more than a decade ago—though NPR has not independently verified those details.
Some see the moment as an opportunity to broaden the narrative about the farm labor movement. Filipino organizer Larry Itliong organized farmworkers before Chavez and Huerta and led the 1965 Delano Grape Strike that helped spark the UFW’s founding. “A lot of Filipinos, to this day, we always say: without Larry Itliong, there’d be no Cesar Chavez,” said Rogelio Gadiano, who grew up in Delano and now leads tours of local historical sites, including The Forty Acres, the UFW’s first headquarters and a retirement village for Filipino farmworkers.
Gadiano hopes the controversy will prompt more informed conversations about farmworker history and lead to greater recognition of the many people and communities who built the movement. “We got buried in history,” he said. “We were the spark, the ultimate spark.” Whatever decisions Delano makes about names and memorials, residents and leaders are grappling with how to balance honoring gains for farmworkers with accountability and the pain the allegations have caused.