César Chávez Murals Removed Across Chicago in 2026

Murals and monuments honoring César Chávez are coming down across Chicago, and some are being painted over with images of Dolores Huerta, the labor rights leader who says Chávez sexually assaulted her.

The removals accelerated this week following a March 18 New York Times investigation that revealed allegations Chávez had groomed and sexually assaulted girls and women over the course of his career as a civil rights activist. The allegations shook Chicago’s Latino community, which had long celebrated Chávez as a foundational figure in the fight for farmworkers’ rights and Latino dignity in America.

Huerta, 95, told the Times that Chávez assaulted her. She was his closest ally in the farmworkers movement and coined the phrase “Sí, se puede,” which became a rallying cry well beyond labor organizing. Now her face is appearing on walls where his once stood.

At Café Tola in Lake View, workers replaced a Chávez mural on the restaurant’s exterior with a painting of Huerta this week. The restaurant addressed the change directly on social media.

“We are deeply saddened by this news, but we stand in unwavering support and admiration for Dolores Huerta and every woman who has found the courage to speak,” Café Tola posted. “This moment is powerful, proof that truth cannot be silenced and that it is never too late to reclaim your voice. We honor that strength.”

The shift from one icon to another carries real weight in a city where public murals have long served as community declarations, not decoration. These walls belong to neighborhoods. When a community decides to repaint one, it says something about who they choose to hold up and why.

The Illinois Senate moved quickly this week as well. Lawmakers adopted a resolution Wednesday honoring Huerta and designating April 10 as Dolores Huerta Day in Illinois.

The resolution cited her willingness to speak publicly about her own experience of harm. “In recent months, Dolores Huerta has shown profound resilience and courage in sharing her own experience of harm, doing so to elevate the stories of countless women whose voices were overlooked or silenced,” the resolution reads.

State Sen. Celina Villanueva, a Chicago Democrat and one of the resolution’s sponsors, said she is also working on a plan to rescind César Chávez Day, the state holiday currently observed on March 31. That holiday falls next week, and its future now sits in serious question.

Villanueva’s effort reflects a broader reckoning that institutions across Illinois are navigating. Schools named after Chávez, streets bearing his name, and artwork funded by public dollars all raise the same uncomfortable question: how does a community reconcile the genuine movement-building work of a figure now credibly accused of predatory behavior?

That question does not have a clean answer. Chicago has faced versions of it before with other historical figures, and the city’s track record is uneven. What makes this moment distinct is the speed of the community response. The murals are coming down before any formal city policy demands it. Businesses and neighborhoods are acting on their own terms.

The accusations against Chávez landed with particular force in Chicago’s Latino neighborhoods, where his legacy was not abstract. It was painted on buildings, woven into school curricula, and marked on the calendar. For many families, he represented something larger than one man. The reporting out of New York punctured that.

Huerta, by contrast, was always there. Her work in the movement was as substantial as Chávez’s, though she received far less institutional recognition for it. The resolution in Springfield and the murals going up in Lake View and elsewhere suggest the city is prepared to correct that now, even if the circumstances that created the opportunity are grim.

Originally reported by chicago.suntimes.com.

The Illinois Senate’s designation of an official Dolores Huerta Day does not erase the complexity of this moment. But it marks a clear line. Illinois is choosing who to honor, and it is choosing her.