Fort Worth moved swiftly Thursday to remove honorary street signs bearing César Chávez's name along Northeast and Northwest 28th Street in the Northside neighborhood, as city and county leaders called for stripping all public recognition of the late farmworkers' rights leader following newly surfaced sexual abuse allegations.
Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem Carlos Flores announced at a press conference Thursday that the city had removed the street toppers honoring Chávez. "Sexual misconduct is something that should not be tolerated," Flores said. "And it doesn't matter who it pertains to. Whether it's an important person or legacy, accountability matters."
Flores had championed the honorary renaming of a section of Northwest 28th Street after Chávez in the Northside neighborhood. Last year, he also proposed making César Chávez Day a paid holiday for city employees, though that initiative did not advance. In a statement, Flores said, "I believe that accountability is necessary, regardless of a person's stature or legacy."
The street toppers - secondary signs mounted above standard street signs - are a distinction from a full legal renaming, meaning no formal city council vote or lengthy administrative process is required to remove them.
The removals came one day after a New York Times investigation brought widespread attention to decades of alleged sexual abuse tied to Chávez, including accounts from fellow labor leader Dolores Huerta, 95, who said Chávez coerced her into sexual encounters that resulted in pregnancies. Allegations also involve multiple underage girls connected to the farmworkers' movement.
The César Chávez & Dolores Huerta Committee of Tarrant County announced Wednesday it would change its name to the ¡Sí Se Puede! Committee of Tarrant County and would no longer host its annual March for Justice.
Fort Worth Council Member Jeanette Martinez, the first Latina to serve on the council, issued a statement saying she stands with Huerta and all survivors. "We must honor history and the broader movement for justice and workers' rights while also acknowledging that no legacy is beyond accountability," she said.
The fallout is also reverberating at the county level. Tarrant County leaders are separately pushing to end the César Chávez holiday observance and remove any remaining county recognition tied to his name. Community members and activists in Fort Worth's predominantly Latino Northside neighborhood are now grappling with the larger question of how the Chicano civil rights movement preserves its history and identity while distancing from Chávez specifically.
The developments in Fort Worth mirror actions taken across North Texas and the state, including the removal of a Chávez statue from the Dallas Farmers Market and calls by Dallas City Council members to rename César Chávez Boulevard.
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