Swift and widespread, efforts to rebrand César Chavez Day are fueled by emotion and duty - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
From California to Minnesota, elected leaders and civil rights groups are scrambling to distance themselves from César Chavez's name in the wake of allegations that he sexually abused women and girls during the 1960s as he became the face of the farmworkers' movement.
Efforts have been swift and widespread to rebrand events ahead of what typically was a day to celebrate the life and legacy of the Latino rights advocate on his birthday, March 31.
In Tucson, Arizona, last weekend's celebration was instead billed as a community and labor fair. In Grand Junction, Colorado, it's now the Sí, Se Puede Celebration. El Paso, Texas, will mark Tuesday as Community and Labor Heritage Day.
Lawmakers in Minnesota voted this week to end the César Chavez holiday in their state, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a bill to rename César Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day. In Colorado, lawmakers were considering a bill to rename the voluntary state holiday there to Farm Workers Day.
Renaming efforts also are underway for dozens of schools, streets and other locations across the United States that are named for Chavez, including the national monument in Keene, California.
The resulting conversations have been anything but easy as supporters grapple with conflicted feelings while sorting out how best to honor what was a pivotal labor and civil rights effort in the United States.
A betrayal
Feelings of disappointment, disbelief and even anger have made for an emotional cocktail for those charting the path forward.
The New York Times recently reported that it found César Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. The movement's co-founder, Dolores Huerta, also revealed that she was a victim of the abuse in her 30s.
"It was a personal hurt and a betrayal," said Jose Luis Chavez, founder and president of the committee that has organized the César Chavez Celebration for Mesa County, Colorado, for the past decade. The committee is made up of people who have worked in the agricultural industry and whose grandparents and parents cut grapes and picked peaches.
"I think that's what my committee was feeling, and I think when we look at our community here, that is what people are still feeling," said Jose Luis Chavez, who is not related to the famous civil rights leader. "They're feeling a lot of hurt and a lot anger."
Born from a desire to educate students about marginalized communities, the annual celebration in Grand Junction has evolved into a gathering with music, food, classic cars and high school students taking the stage to accept scholarships.
Canceling it simply wasn't an option, Jose Luis Chavez said.
The logo was adjusted to include the words "Sí, se puede" — the rallying cry coined by Huerta that translates as "Yes, it can be done." A flurry of social media posts let people know the event would go on under a new name.
Finding a broader focus
The annual César Chavez and Dolores Huerta March and Rally in Tucson was scaled back and rebranded. There was no march or car show last weekend and it was billed instead as the Comunidad y Labor Unity Fair, focusing more broadly on labor rights without mentioning Chavez.
Organizers with the Arizona César E. Chávez + Dolores Huerta Holiday Coalition encouraged supporters of the movement to continue showing up for one another.
"Even when we thought about canceling, we chose to keep going, because this movement is bigger than a name or one person," the group said in a social media post. "No single individual defines it. … We, the working people, do."
It's a chorus that has resonated loudly and consistently since the allegations became public. While there have been calls in Texas and elsewhere to remove the holiday altogether, the groups that are pushing ahead are driven by a sense of duty to the overall legacy of the movement.
Sehila Mota Casper, executive director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, said the outcome will be different for every community.
"It's due process that's needed to help grapple with this," she said. "I think that's the best resolution that each community will have to decide for themselves, how it is that they land on a decision that best reflects their community and their values."
A time for listening
The annual march in Albuquerque was canceled long before the news broke and for unrelated reasons, but New Mexico's largest city is just beginning the process of sorting out name changes for roads and other public spaces.
It's a complex process that will take time and involve public outreach, said City Councilor Joaquín Baca, whose district includes roads named after both César Chavez and Huerta. Even Baca and his family still are contemplating the fate of a César Chavez and Dolores Huerta poster that hangs in their home.
The emails, phone calls and text messages that have poured in to city leaders include demands that everything related to César Chavez be torn down, as well as requests that a broader brush be used to recognize the rights of farmworkers and other laborers, Baca said.
"It's every side on every issue within the context of this," he said. "So for me, it has been a lot of listening at this point."
Mota Casper, who has built a career in heritage tourism and historic preservation, said it's a chance for elected leaders and policymakers to pause and consider expanding the narrative around Chavez's legacy. She said society has a responsibility to tell "that full story," understanding that humans are complex and fallible.
"So in commemorating or glorifying them, we have to be able to acknowledge the good and the bad and take that as it comes ... but also understand that we can't gloss over history," she said. "We can't simplify it just to make it easy. We have to be able to talk about it."
Elephant unharmed after brief escape from BioPark Zoo habitat - Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
ABQ BioPark’s Alice the elephant is OK after escaping from her habitat on Sunday morning.
At about 7:30 a.m., the 52-year-old Asian elephant was found by zoo security outside her habitat area munching on plants and trees. Staff members arrived 10 minutes later and initiated an emergency response protocol, according to a BioPark news release.
According to the zoo, Sunday was the first time an animal escaped from its habitat.
“The BioPark routinely runs drills to practice response to all types of emergencies, and today, the staff executed that protocol perfectly,” the news release states. “Because the elephant care team has developed a deep and trusting bond with Alice, she walked safely and calmly back to her habitat when called.”
No other elephants left the habitat — including Alice’s daughter Rozie — and no one was injured, according to the zoo.
“Alice has no injuries but will remain under close monitoring by animal care staff,” the release states.
The incident caused the zoo to open at 9:30 a.m., a half-hour later than normal, “while paths were cleared of debris from where Alice ate plants and trees in the vicinity of her habitat,” according to BioPark.
The fencing that was destroyed has been secured “with repairs and reinforcement underway,” the news release states.
The zoo later announced it “will review today's incident carefully,” but “since our protocol worked exactly as we intended, major changes are not necessary.”
Thousands rally in Albuquerque, Santa Fe for No Kings anti-Trump protest - Joshua Bowling and Julia Goldberg, Source New Mexico
As a local grunge band played their final song of the morning, they set the tone for the rest of the day’s remarks at Saturday’s No Kings protest in Albuquerque’s Montgomery Park.
“Well maybe they’re the fascists, America,” the New Mexico band ShyGuy belted out, in a modified cover of Green Day’s 2004 anti Iraq-war hit “American Idiot.” “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.”
Protestors across the state flocked to the park in northeast Albuquerque to protest what they described as the Trump administration’s attacks on elections, the war in Iran and the Epstein files. The event played out as others did all across the country, with millions expected by day’s end.
In Albuquerque, as the sun loomed overhead, attendees gathered to hear from Stacey Abrams, a Democrat who previously ran to be governor of Georgia and worked to boost statewide voter turnout in the 2020 election.
“Across this country, we have watched the devolution of democracy in real time,” she told a standing room-only crowd in Albuquerque. “You have someone who was elected president, but makes himself a dictator.”
She took aim at the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives nationally and said that she viewed the effort as inherently anti-American.
“DEI is in our DNA in America,” she said.
While rallygoers weren’t cheering on speakers on the stage or booing occupants of the White House, they were busy showing off their handmade signs, piñatas and shirts to one another.
Mike and Tracy Eder of Rio Rancho brought a Trump piñata with them that had a note taped across its back: “Destroyer of Democracy.”
“No candy in this piñata. Nothing but sh-t,” Tracy shouted at passersby.
Mike Miles of Albuquerque sat on the grass with a sign he wrote himself. He changed the words to Martin Niemöller’s famous “First They Came” poem.
“First they came for the immigrants. I did not speak because I was not an immigrant,” his adaptation read. “Then the Blacks. I did not speak out because I was not Black. Then they came for the journalists. I did not speak out because I was not a journalist. Then they came for the Muslims and I did not speak out because I was not a Muslim. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
At the park’s outskirts, vendors and volunteers set up a line of tents to sell flags with slogans such as “We the people are pissed off” and to hand out water on the dry spring day. Volunteers ran voter registration booths and some elected officials met with their constituents.
Sen. Harold Pope (D-Albuquerque), who is currently running for lieutenant governor, was there in a custom baseball jersey that read “For Lt. Gov” across the front. He told Source NM he thought it was important to be there to show his constituents that local officials can also push back on the federal administration.
“It gives people a chance to show with numbers that we are upset and disgusted with what’s happening in D.C.,” he said.
Deb Haaland, the former U.S. Interior Secretary who is currently seeking the Democratic nomination to be New Mexico’s next governor, met with rallygoers in the afternoon, moments before Abrams took the state. Haaland, who previously represented New Mexico in the U.S. House of Representatives, told Source NM that she has “already fought Trump and won.”
“I got sworn into Congress during a Trump shutdown. I know how to handle Trump,” she said. “I got five bills passed and signed into law by Donald Trump.”
Haaland, who will face Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman in the June 2 primary election, said she believes this year’s elections will show that New Mexico is an important national player and said she wants to ensure the state can hold the federal government accountable. Previously, she has announced plans to ban ICE agents from wearing face masks while on the job and to prohibit them from operating within 500 yards of schools and child care facilities, state courthouses and government buildings, religious institutions, health clinics, public parks and “significant cultural sites.”
“The governor is the first line of defense against the worst policies coming out of this administration,” she said. “What he’s doing isn’t new to me.”
In Santa Fe, the songs leaned more toward reworked protest and folk music, with renditions of tunes such as Neil Young’s “Ohio” re-messaged to acknowledge the deaths of citizens such as Renée Good and Alex Pretti by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The crowds grew heavy early as more and more people joined the event at the state Capitol.
Speakers throughout the day expressed solidarity with Minnesota, and Indivisible Santa Fe, which organized the event, handed out whistles to attendees intended to help people alert others to the presence of ICE agents in their communities.
Scott Romans, the group’s communications lead, told the crowd that 5,000 whistles had been distributed.
He said one reason it was important for people to have the whistles is to help call attention. “Just imagine the lies our government would be telling us if there hadn’t been people around with whistles and phones to capture the truth about these events,” he said.
The second reason for people to wear their whistles “at all times is to show solidarity with those who are most at risk under this administration. It is no mistake. It is no mistake that ICE is poorly trained, unprofessional and reckless. Trump wants us to fear him, and he wants us to fear his paramilitary thugs. But when you wear your whistle in public, you are telling those who are most at risk and most fearful that you are not OK with what is going on in this nation, that you will stand by them in their vulnerability and that in the face of this tyranny, you will not remain silent.”
Romans told Source NM that while final crowd numbers wouldn’t be available until reviewing drone footage, based on online registration and participation, organizers expected 7,000 to 8,000 throughout the event.
“Every one of these has been larger than the last,” he said, “and we just want to bring more and more people out into the street so so that the global public can see that we are not happy with what’s going on in this country.”
One first-time No Kings attendee, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, told Source NM Saturday’s event was the first that didn’t conflict with a U.S. Senate vote. He led the crowd in chants of “No Kings” and “No bull,” while calling out the Trump administration’s war in Iran; efforts to revamp how Americans vote; immigration crackdown; and higher grocery prices, among other topics, to an ever increasingly loud cheering crowd.
“Enough with this garbage,” he said. “You ready to vote? We got to show up in those numbers that everyone talked about, because this president’s gonna lie and cheat.”
After speaking, Luján told Source NM it felt “incredible” to be at the protest. “When you’re on the stage, [people] are as far as you can see it and the crowds go around the Capitol today, it’s absolutely incredible. Good energy.”
The one message he said he’d want to impart to attendees would be: “Keep showing up, keep speaking, keep standing strong. This is what it’s about. This president wants us to all give in and not to be involved and not participate. He wants to make us scared. And so this is a direct response to this president’s nonsense. I feel good seeing this today, and I’ll tell you what: Everything I saw on my way over here, across America, millions and millions of people gathering today. More people than the last one; more people than the time before.”
NM electrical utilities detail wildfire prevention measures as state enters fire season - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Electrical utilities with customers across New Mexico are working quickly — and often at great expense — to prevent their power lines from sparking wildfires, according to presentations officials gave Thursday to the Public Regulation Commission.
The PRC, which regulates utilities, asked the providers to present their wildfire mitigation plans and answer questions about the upcoming wildfire season.
Amid increasingly hot and dry weather, the risk of trees falling onto power lines and igniting wildfires has prompted utilities, including both investor-owned ones like PNM and small rural electrical cooperatives, to invest heavily in wildfire-detection technology and fireproof materials.
Company leaders, in the day-long hearing, described new mapping software that can identify high-risk areas; artificial intelligence-enabled cameras that detect wildfire starts instantaneously; and their ongoing efforts to replace wooden power poles with ones made of steel, equipped with non-exploding fuses and guards to prevent trees or wildlife from contacting live wires.
Utility leaders are also increasingly preparing to implement pre-emptive power shutoffs during periods of acute fire weather, according to their presentations Thursday, to prevent their power lines from being responsible for ignitions, potentially leaving thousands of customers without electricity for days until power can safely be restored.
PNM implemented one such shutoff across the state last year in the Las Vegas area and, earlier this year, rolled out a new alert system for wildfire-prone areas in the state. No other utility on Thursday indicated it had done its own “public safety power shutoff,” but several described their systems for deciding when to implement one, along with steps they’re taking to ensure medically vulnerable customers and hospitals have as much advance warning as possible.
Throughout the hearing, PRC Commissioner Greg Nibert asked utilities repeatedly about how much they anticipated spending on prevention measures over the next few years. He told Source NM after the meeting that he expects utilities will pass the costs of fire prevention onto customers, at a time when utility costs are already rising.
“People keep asking us why their utility bills keep going up,” he said. “There’s a variety of reasons, but this is one of the areas that traditionally, maybe, has not been receiving the investment that has been needed, and now you’re having to make those investments.”
In addition to the environmental and human costs of wildfires, utilities are also concerned about being sued for wildfires. The fear is particularly acute for rural electrical cooperatives that often operate on thin profit margins in markets that investor-owned utilities won’t enter, said Vincent Martinez, CEO of the New Mexico Rural Electric Cooperative association.
The Jemez Electrical Cooperative faced one such lawsuit recently after a tree located outside the property it controls fell onto a powerline.. Since paying a $25 million settlement, the cooperative has to pay twice as much for insurance that covers far less than before the fire, he said.
Martinez told commissioners that the cooperatives have even greater concern about lawsuits after the Legislature failed to enact House Bill 267, which would have protected utilities from some liability as long as they demonstrate in advance they had taken steps to prevent hazard trees from falling on power lines.
Martinez said he hopes the failed legislation will form the “base” of a bill carried forward into the 60-day legislative session next year.
“I think we’re the only state in the West that hasn’t had some type of fire mitigation legislation in the last few years,” he told commissioners.
NM’s fire season begins
New Mexico now sits firmly in the midst of wildfire season, with multiple blazes burning across the state.
The Unified Fire in Valencia County has grown to more than 300 acres and is 25% contained. The blaze is threatening more than 35 structures, according to an update Thursday from New Mexico State Forestry.
The Mora County Sheriff’s Office also reported “multiple” fires Wednesday burning near Interstate 25 in the northern New Mexico county.
So far this year, 350 wildfires have consumed more than 33,000 acres across the state, according to the Southwest Coordination Center. About 260 of them are deemed human-caused, according to the center.
Plans for new Santa Fe homeless shelter move forward without state capital outlay - Santa Fe New Mexico
In Santa Fe, a local nonprofit plans to build a 125-bed homeless shelter on the south side of the city.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Interfaith Community Shelter is moving forward with the project despite an unsuccessful attempt to secure state funding for the shelter.
Interfaith Community Shelter was the founder and longtime operator of a city-owned homeless shelter on Cerrillos Road. The planned site for the new shelter is a 1.1-acre property on Emblem Road near the Santa Fe Place mall.
The new facility is planned to be called the Resource and Opportunity Center, or the "ROCK."
The New Mexican reports the cost of the project is an estimated $16 million.