Gov. Newsom, LA Mayor Bass and other elected officials react to Cesar Chavez allegations
The governor's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, said: "This war on women isn't new -- it goes way, way back. ... Enough is enough."
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- After Dolores Huerta on Wednesday said she was "manipulated and pressured into having sex" with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s, Gov. Gavin Newsom and other elected officials reacted to the stunning allegations.
Huerta, the labor leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Chavez, issued a statement in response to a New York Times article on allegations that Chavez, the late farmworker organizer who became a national civil rights icon, abused women and minors.
"I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences," Huerta said.
On Wednesday morning, Newsom spoke at a previously scheduled event in Alameda County, whose topic was expanding financial literacy for students and wealth access for women.
Gov. Gavin Newsom reacts to Cesar Chavez sexual abuse allegations
"It's been hard to absorb this. Jen and I are very close with Dolores -- so many of us are -- but very close, have been for decades and decades," the governor said, referring to this wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. "None of us knew. ... I think all of us are processing it. And these kids have to process it now."
The governor noted that more than two dozen schools in California are named after Cesar Chavez, along with others across the U.S.
"So we're just going to have to reflect on all of that," he said, "and reflect on a farm workers' movement and a labor movement that was much bigger than one man."
More California leaders react to allegations against Cesar Chavez
In a statement, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in part: "The sickening reality is that what Dolores, Ana, and Debra endured is not isolated, nor is it of the past. Real progress requires more than moments of reckoning - it demands sustained action to dismantle social, cultural, economic, and political structures that have hurt women throughout our history."
In a statement, L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said she was "horrified by the abuse that we now know Dolores Huerta and other women suffered, but I'm moved by their incredible courage in telling their stories publicly all these years later.
"What matters most now is that we listen and support them as well as any other woman who suffered this abuse," Hahn said, calling for Cesar Chavez Day, which has been typically celebrated on March 31, to be renamed as "Farmworker Day" in Los Angeles County.
Sen. Alex Padilla, who is California's first Latino senator, said there "must be zero tolerance for abuse, exploitation, and the silencing of victims, no matter who is involved."
"Confronting painful truths and ensuring accountability is essential to honoring the very values the greater farm worker movement stands for - values rooted in dignity and justice for all," his statement said in part.
Xavier Becerra, former Health and Human Services secretary and current candidate for California governor, issued a statement that said in part: "Clearly, there is a painful side to this story and Cesar Chavez that we must face."
Antonio Villaraigosa, the former L.A. mayor who is running for California governor, also issued a comment that said: "These revelations are a punch in the gut for me and for so many who believed deeply in the cause of social justice. Chávez's legacy has long been defined by the fight for dignity and justice. That legacy helped transform our country and uplift farmworkers and Latino communities. But moral clarity demands that we hold two truths at once."
Report details new abuse allegations
According to the New York Times, one of the survivors alleged she was 12 years old when Chavez first touched her inappropriately and 15 when he raped her in California. Another victim who spoke to the Times alleges she was summoned for sexual encounters with Chávez dozens of times over a four-year period, starting when she was 13 and he was 45.
The Times investigation claims that Chavez used his position of power to exploit many of the women who worked and volunteered in his movement for his own sexual gratification.
"I'm still shaking a little bit about Dolores and all these young women," Jennifer Siebel Newsom said at Wednesday's news conference, her voice choked with emotion. "It's a lot. It's like, we're living in really tough times and this war on women isn't new -- it goes way, way back, centuries. Enough is enough.
"So, it's got to end. It's got to end in my lifetime," Siebel Newsom said. She later delivered similar remarks about the matter in Spanish.
In November 2022, Siebel Newsom testified in Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial in Los Angeles, at times breaking into tears while alleging he raped her in a hotel room in 2005.
Huerta, 95, said she had two separate sexual encounters with Chavez in the 1960s.
"The first time I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him, and I didn't feel I could say no because he was someone that I admired, my boss and the leader of the movement I had already devoted years of my life to," Huerta said. "The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped."
Also on Wednesday, the advocacy group California Rising called for the official renaming of Cesar Chavez Avenue to Dolores Huerta Avenue. A spokesperson for the group said public spaces must reflect values that honor and protect communities, adding that the proposed renaming is positioned as a "course correction" that "acknowledges harm, challenges long accepted narratives, and centers a legacy that better represents dignity and equity for current and future generations."
Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers with Chavez in 1962, work that led to the first farmworker union contracts in U.S. history. In 2012, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her decades of advocacy in civil rights and women's equality.
Chavez died in 1993 at the age of 66.
Huerta said both encounters with Chavez led to pregnancies that she kept secret and later arranged for them to be raised by other families.
"Over the years, I have been fortunate to develop a deep relationship with these children, who are now close to my other children, their siblings," Huerta said. "But even then, no one knew the full truth about how they were conceived until just a few weeks ago."
ABC News contributed to this report.
