A business owner is replacing a mural of Cesar Chavez with a painting of a Catholic saint following a New York Times article alleging sexual misconduct by Chavez.
Antonio Gomez owns a new market and restaurant set to open in the coming weeks. The outside of the building is covered in murals, but the one featuring Chavez is in the process of being replaced. Gomez spoke with me on Sunday about his choice.
“They weren’t happy with us still having the painting of Cesar Chavez and that why we made that decision to remove it and we put Saint Isidore the Laborer, a saint who protects workers,” Gomez said.
Gomez said he heard from many in the Latino community who shop at his store and is listening to them.
“It was a necessity to remove it we had a lot of calls from our people, residents from the community asking to remove it,” Gomez said.
Work on removing the painting started following the allegations. I met Ernesto Aguilar, the artist hired to repaint the mural. Aguilar said they want something that will represent farmworkers.
“I had to study to see who else would represent farmworkers and since this area is about 90-percent Catholic I decided to paint a Catholic saint,” Aguilar said.
I spoke with several residents near the mural. Edelmira Mendoza was the only one willing to share her thoughts on camera. She shared she was happy when she heard that the owner decided to paint a saint.
“I congratulate him, I really do and I wish there were more people like him. I think the life of a saint can really inspire many lives,” Mendoza said.
Gomez gave me another explanation as to why he made this decision.
“Another reason was because we really didn’t want anyone to come and graffiti the painting of Cesar Chavez. The murals are really nice and we didn’t want to risk it,” Gomez said.
The mural will be complete during the first week of April.
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