From streets to murals, the erasure of Cesar Chavez comes with unprecedented speed in California [View all]

It took three decades of battles and lobbying for Cesar Chavez’s name and likeness to grace hundreds of buildings, roads, parks and schools.

It is taking just days for them to come down.

In the two days after allegations emerged that the famed farmworker rights leader and Chicano figure sexually assaulted minors and fellow labor icon Dolores Huerta, Chavez is being erased at an unprecedented rate. This is especially true in California, where his fight for agricultural workers’ rights was cemented in state history.

In San Fernando, a completely covered Chavez statue was pulled off its pedestal and put into storage. Murals depicting Chavez in Los Angeles were unceremoniously painted over. In Fresno, the City Council voted to strip his name from a major street — just three years after its controversial decision to rebrand it in his honor. Soon, the old street names — Kings Canyon Road, Ventura Street and California Avenue — will return to the nearly 10-mile-long corridor.

California officials and activists said they were shocked by the allegations brought forth in a New York Times investigation and felt it was essential to act right away. But the speed of the changes are unprecedented.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-21/covering-murals-removing-statues-erasure-of-cesar-chavez-is-underway-in-california

The country will need to follow California's lead once Trump is out of office...