SEATTLE — César Chávez’s name will be removed from a Seattle institution after newly public sexual abuse allegations.

At El Centro de la Raza in Seattle, Executive Director Estella Ortega said a garden named for Chávez would be renamed and that other tributes at the building would also change.

“The farm worker movement is bigger than just one person,” Ortega said. “We’ve got a garden named after him, those things will change.”

The renewed debate in Seattle follows a New York Times report published this week that detailed allegations Chávez sexually abused women and girls, including fellow labor leader Dolores Huerta. The revelations have prompted officials and institutions around the country to reconsider Chávez commemorations, with California leaders backing a proposal to rename César Chávez Day as Farmworkers Day and other communities moving to review streets, schools and monuments that bear his name.

In Washington, Gov. Bob Ferguson already said he will not issue a proclamation for César Chávez Day this year and instead plans to celebrate Dolores Huerta Day on April 10.

Asked Thursday whether he would press local agencies to remove Chávez’s name from places such as the garden outside El Centro, Ferguson said the state had already decided to stop honoring Chávez in the ways he directly controls, while broader changes would require more discussion.

“My view is the movement’s bigger than any one individual,” Ferguson said. “The farm worker movement did so much for farm workers, for labor rights, for human dignity. It’s bigger than any one person.”

Ferguson said he had met with Ortega and lawmakers before speaking publicly and described the allegations as so serious that many people were still “reeling” and trying to decide what would be appropriate next.

Seattle’s César Chávez Park, in the South Park neighborhood, is managed by Seattle Parks and Recreation. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, when asked about the park, did not indicate a change would be immediate.

State Sen. Rebecca Saldaña said Latino leaders in Washington were urging that this year’s March 31 observance move away from celebration and instead focus on community service, survivors and the broader farmworker cause.

“At this moment, I think the Latino Democratic caucus will be saying, we need to pause,” Saldaña said. “This March 31 this year should be about community service. It should be about making sure that the farm worker movement and the farm worker cause is what’s centered.”

Saldaña stopped short of immediately endorsing a permanent name change for the holiday, saying it was still too soon and that leaders should follow survivors’ lead. But she said she expected more conversations about accountability, healing, and how public spaces should be named going forward.

Across the country, those conversations are already underway. The Associated Press reported Thursday that communities and institutions nationwide are distancing themselves from Chávez, identifying more than 130 sites that bear his name, including parks, schools, and other public landmarks.

For Ortega, the question in Seattle was more immediate.

“We cannot just let the lie continue to live in our way,” she said.

As we’re just about a week now from Seattle Mariners opening day, one of the big storylines we were following and tracking throughout all of spring training was the development and the potential for Colt Emerson to be on the opening day roster.

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As we sit here today, we still don’t know. He is the only young player who hasn’t been returned to minor league camp, so there’s still a possibility that he could end up on the major league team. And obviously that would grow if J.P. Crawford were truly hurt. It doesn’t look like that’s the case. J.P. is either gonna be ready on opening day or soon afterwards, so my guess is they would go with the Leo Rivas for a short time if they needed to before J.P. was ready to return.

If he’s not going to be your everyday shortstop, it’s really difficult for me to see how you are going to squeeze Colt Emerson onto the roster. If he had been unbelievable, if he had the same spring training that Julio Rodríguez did in 2022 where you just say you can’t keep this guy off the roster, he’s just clearly a major league player, then I guess you would find a way. You would move some people around and you might take some of at-bats away even from Cole Young and just say this kid’s too good.

Heating Up: Colt Emerson hits second HR of spring

But there are some major differences from when that happened with Julio. One of them, this team is expected to contend in a way that Julio team was not necessarily at the beginning of the year. And secondly, they just don’t have as much open space on the everyday roster.

If you wanted to throw Julio in center field that year, you could. It’s not like he was taking the job from somebody who was so good that you couldn’t move him out of there. Brendan Donovan should be playing every day. Cole Young, you want to see if he can play every single day. They have guys in their infield that they want to play every day, and I know J.P. can cause some polarization among fans, but the guy was a 3.8 bWAR player last year. He’s a pretty good player and is exactly what you want on a contending team as opposed to a young kid who has only played 40 games above the Single-A level.

I like Colt Emerson. He’s gonna play this year. I can’t wait to see him at the big league level. I don’t think it’s going to be on opening day.

This post is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity. Catch Mike Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

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Former Seattle Mariners catching prospect Harry Ford was optioned to Triple-A Rochester by the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.

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Ford, 23, was a top prospect in the Mariners’ organization and a top-100 prospect in all of baseball for multiple years after being selected 12th overall in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft, but his path to regular playing time in the major leagues was blocked by American League MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh.

After a stellar showing in Triple-A where he produced a .408 on-base percentage, .868 OPS and 16 homers in 97 games with Tacoma, Ford had a cup of coffee with the M’s last season when he was called up as rosters expanded to 28 players in September. Ford appeared in eight games and went 1 for 6 with an RBI, which included a walkoff sac fly against the Los Angels Angels on Sept. 11. He added a single in his only plate appearance during the playoffs.

With Ford’s future in Seattle murky due to a lack of opportunities at catcher, the Mariners sent him and minor league pitcher Isaac Lyon to the Nationals on Dec. 6 in exchange for left-handed reliever Jose A. Ferrer, who is expected to fill a high-leverage role with the M’s.

Ford was 3 for 14 with one double, two RBIs and three walks to seven strikeouts in seven games for Washington this spring. He also went 3 for 15 with one home run and two RBIs over four games while playing for Great Britain during the World Baseball Classic.

The decision to start Ford in Triple-A means the Nationals will open the season with Keibert Ruiz and Drew Millas as their catching options.

The 27-year-old Ruiz is the returning starter and a former top prospect who was acquired in a 2021 trade that sent right-hander Max Scherzer and shortstop Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he missed the final three months of last season due to lingering symptoms from two concussions suffered over the span of one month. Ruiz is signed through the 2030 season with club options for 2031 and 2032.

First-year Nationals manager Blake Butera told reporters Wednesday that Ford is still very much a part of the club’s plans moving forward.

“I told Harry today when we sent him down, he’s going to be a huge part of our future,” manager Blake Butera said via NatsJournal.com’s Mark Zuckerman. “Him going to Triple-A right now has nothing to do with we don’t think highly of him anymore. No, that’s not it. And it’s not anything he did or didn’t do right or wrong.”

Ford is Washington’s third-ranked prospect and No. 71 league-wide, per MLB Pipeline.

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