Is Tarrant County planning to remove Cesar Chavez Day from its holiday calendar?
The Cesar Chavez Committee of Tarrant County and two local LULAC groups are sounding the alarm over the possibility that the county will remove Cesar Chavez Day from its holiday calendar and replace it with Veterans Day.
A letter posted on the Action Network, a website designed for activist groups, states “County Commissioner - Precinct 4 Manny Ramirez and County Judge Tim O’Hare are attempting to erase Cesar Chavez Day from Tarrant County.”
The letter does not cite a source, and Ramirez on Tuesday said the information was false.
Chavez was born in Arizona, served two years in the Navy and in 1962 founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. He died in 1993 at 66.
The letter also calls for members of the community to reach out to Ramirez — the court’s lone Latino member.
A top aide for Ramirez told the Star-Telegram over text Tuesday that “Commissioner Manny Ramirez is not attempting to erase Cesar Chavez Day. That is completely false.”
O’Hare did not respond to a request for comment.
Richard Gonzales, who writes a history column for the Star-Telegram, said he was told by Gabe Rivas, community outreach coordinator for county Commissioner Alisa Simmons, during a breakfast over the weekend that Ramirez was leading the charge to scrap the holiday.
Rivas said Tuesday that Simmons wants to see both recognized as holidays.
Gonzales said he met with Simmons’ office Tuesday afternoon and said he expects the county commissioners will vote on the calendar change during their next meeting, Aug. 20.
“One of the concerns I have is that there has been no public discussion,” Gonzales said, calling the proposed changes to the holiday calendar a sneaky way of making a a big change.
Cesar Chavez Day has been a recognized holiday in Tarrant County since 2001.
Rose Herrera, who has been involved with numerous community organizations, was also at that breakfast where the holiday change was discussed.
She criticized O’Hare for his alleged support of the change and believes his past relationships with Latino constituents could be at play.
“We know of all the mess he made in Farmers Branch,” Herrera said. “I think he’s got a problem with us because of our skin color, because of our surnames. We all get bunched up in the same category. And I think he’s very much anti-immigrant.”
O’Hare drew national attention in 2006 as a Farmers Branch council member, when the city passed an ordinance that prohibited landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants and another that made English the city’s official language. They were ultimately ruled unconstitutional by a federal court and cost the city millions in legal fees.
“Both observances [Veterans Day and Cesar Chavez Day] are important and deserve to be treated with respect. The true, poorly-hidden motivation here is racism. They are attempting to diminish the historical contributions of a great Latino labor leader. Ironically,” David Cruz, LULAC national communications director, said in a statement to the Star-Telegram. “His work is still helping the people who put food on the tables of those now trying to erase his memory.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2024 at 5:03 PM.
