Gavin Newsom said he is still “processing” the horrific allegations against Cesar Chavez in his first comments on the scandal — while awkwardly taking time to detail photos of the labor leader adorning his home.
“How many times I’ve marched … how many photographs in my house of Bobby Kennedy and Cesar Chavez. I woke up this morning, it was right there.” Gov. Newsom told reporters Wednesday at an event that was meant to be about financial literacy in schools.
“And so it’s been hard to absorb this,” he added.
As condemnations of Chavez grew among state lawmakers following the report, Newsom said he was “open” to renaming public memorials dedicated to the late labor icon, while stopping short of advocating for any changes himself.
“It requires a little more reflection, a little more understanding and, you know, you need a little bit of space,” Newsom said.
“If we need to move, we’ll do so together. We’ll talk to the caucuses. I’ve already had conversations at the staff level, and you can imagine in Sacramento … those are robust right now.”
Cesar Chavez Day, declared last year by the governor’s office and celebrated on March 31, remains a legal holiday and paid day off for state employees.
The state legislature would need to sign a law to change the holiday, and leaders in the California Legislative Hispanic Caucus signaled they were in favor of it.
“Accountability must not be set aside in deference to legacy,” the caucus wrote in a statement.
The labor leader raped and sexually assaulted two girls as young as 12 and abused other women, including longtime Chavez ally Dolores Huerta, the New York Times reported in a bombshell investigation published Wednesday.
Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who also spoke at at the press conference, are “very, very close” with Huerta — the 95-year-old co-founder of United Farm Workers who revealed that Chavez raped her and impregnated her twice — but were unaware of the allegations.
Newsom also made a point of plugging a new film produced by his wife after she gave tearful remarks decrying a “war on women.”
“It goes way, way back centuries. Enough is enough,” she said at the event. “This has to end in my lifetime,” she added.
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