From California to Minnesota, elected leaders and civil rights groups are scrambling to distance themselves from César Chavez’s name in the wake of sexual abuse allegations. Efforts have been swift and widespread to rebrand events ahead of what typically was a day to celebrate the Latino rights advocate on his birthday, March 31. In Tucson, Arizona, a celebration was instead billed as a community and labor fair. In Grand Junction, Colorado, it’s now the Sí, Se Puede Celebration. The conversations behind the decisions have been anything but easy as supporters deal with conflicted feelings while sorting how best to honor the legacy of the farmworker movement.
The Trump administration has opened investigations into how race is considered in admissions at three medical schools, ratcheting up its pressure campaign against colleges and universities. The Justice Department opened the investigations on Wednesday into possible discrimination at the medical schools of Stanford University, Ohio State, and the University of California, San Diego. Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, announced the investigations on X. President Donald Trump has been ramping up scrutiny of universities he decries as overrun by liberal influence, using tools such as control of federal research funding as leverage.
The Justice Department has filed a new lawsuit against Harvard University, accusing it of failing to address antisemitism on campus. The lawsuit, filed Friday, seeks to freeze existing grants and recover money already paid to the university. This is part of a long-standing conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard. The government claims Harvard has not protected Jewish and Israeli students from discrimination during pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Harvard insists it is committed to fighting bias. It argues the administration is violating its First Amendment rights by trying to limit campus activism and change some of its practices for hiring and enrollment. Negotiations have stalled, with the administration demanding large payments to restore funding.
Trump administration sues Harvard, saying it violated civil rights law and seeking to recover federal money.
Dolores Huerta has dedicated her life to breaking down barriers and cemented her place in history as one of the nation’s most influential labor leaders, civil rights icons and feminist activists. Now she has shocked the world by revealing that she was among the women and girls who say they were sexually abused by César Chavez while he led the United Farm Workers union. Huerta says she was fearful of speaking out because she didn’t want the movement to be tarnished. While Chavez and Huerta's names were once inseparable, elected leaders and community members are initiating efforts to rename some buildings, schools and streets after Huerta alone.
The Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman has won a defamation lawsuit filed by seven Ohio sheriff’s deputies who sued him over music videos that used home security footage to mock them over a 2022 raid of his home. The verdict Wednesday evening follows several hours of deliberations. The Adams County deputies say they were publicly harassed over the videos. They show rifle-wielding deputies busting down his door, searching his shoes and eyeing a cake on the kitchen table, inspiring the song, “Lemon Pound Cake.” The 51-year-old Afroman, born Joseph Foreman, says the verdict is a win for free speech rights. No charges were filed in the drug and kidnapping investigation.
Alabama marked the 61st anniversary of a key event in the Civil Rights Movement, when state troopers attacked voting rights marchers in Selma. The violence on March 7, 1965, shocked the nation and galvanized support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The annual commemoration pays homage to those who fought to secure voting rights for Black Americans. But the celebrations in Selma this weekend came as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case that could limit a provision of the landmark legislation. Democratic officeholders, civil rights leaders and tourists descended on the southern city to pay homage to the pivotal moment of the Civil Rights Movement and to issue calls to action.
After a president-filled celebration, Rev. Jesse Jackson's family gathers for intimate final goodbye
The family of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is honoring him with a private memorial at Rainbow PUSH headquarters in Chicago.
Today is Saturday, March 7, the 66th day of 2026. There are 299 days left in the year.
From former presidents to an NBA Hall of Famer to prominent church pastors, stories of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s influence on politics, corporate boardrooms and picket lines loomed large at a celebration honoring the late civil rights leader. Thousands of people gathered Friday at a church on Chicago’s South Side to pay a final public tribute to Jackson. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, and former Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke during the program. The ceremony honors Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate. It follows memorial services that drew large crowds in Chicago and South Carolina.