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Antonio Bustamante has kept a watercolor of labor leader C\u00e9sar Chavez<\/a> for more than 35 years, hanging it on the wall of his law office in Yuma, Arizona. As a young man, he was moved by Chavez and helped organize workers before joining his security team.<\/p>\n Like many others, Bustamante must now wrestle with reconciling the man he adored with the allegations Chavez groomed and sexually abused<\/a> women and young girls.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to figure out how emotionally and intellectually I\u2019ll be able to understand my perception of him as an extremely good man,\u201d Bustamante said, his voice heavy with emotion, \u201ccompared to these things that are said he did.\u201d<\/p>\n Chavez built a national reputation organizing in the fields<\/a>. With Dolores Huerta \u2014 also one of his victims<\/a> \u2014 he co-founded the United Farm Workers union, led a hunger strike, a grape boycott with Filipino farmworkers, and eventually pressured growers to negotiate better wages and working conditions for Mexican American farmworkers. <\/p>\n Nearly two weeks after a New York Times report detailing allegations of sexual abuse, communities and rights groups across the country are still figuring out how he should be remembered. His name and image have already been erased<\/a> from monuments, streets and murals around the country. <\/p>\n Bustamante said he learned of the allegations when an old friend called to tell him about the upcoming report. What flashed through his mind, he said, were the faces of others who had known and admired Chavez, and \u201chow their eyes would be devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were looked down upon by society, we were Mexicans,\u201d Bustamante said, recalling the first time he saw Chavez speak outside the Arizona Capitol in 1972 as he launched a hunger strike. He \u201cgave us worth, and for young people that was everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, some of Bustamante’s friends have taken down images of Chavez. In his community, Bustamante likened it to denouncing Catholicism and removing photos of the pope.<\/p>\n For many, it’s an example of why movements should not be tied to a single leader.<\/p>\n Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers, said the contradiction between the Chavez’s legacy and the allegations is unavoidable. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have in one hand C\u00e9sar Chavez, the man who committed horrible acts that we\u2019re not going to justify,\u201d Romero said. \u201cOn the other hand, we have C\u00e9sar Chavez, the organizer who brought thousands and thousands of people together to be able to work for farm workers, and improve their lives and working conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, both of those things came from the same person, Romero said.<\/p>\n Sehila Mota Casper, executive director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, said the farmworker movement was always driven by collective effort. <\/p>\n \u201cThe rights and protections that came from it belongs to the people that built it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just one individual.\u201d<\/p>\n That perspective, she said, offers a way to move forward: recognizing Chavez’s role without letting it overshadow the contributions of others, including Huerta, and the challenges they faced.<\/p>\n Advocacy groups like the nonprofit Voto Latino took a similar stance, saying, \u201cThe women who organized, marched, and sacrificed alongside farmworkers carried this movement on their backs.\u201d<\/p>\n The allegations also prompted swift public action. Within days, statues<\/a> were removed and celebrations cancelled or renamed<\/a>, including events tied to the federal C\u00e9sar Chavez Day<\/a> on March 31.<\/p>\n Political leaders from both parties have condemned the alleged abuse. Some Republicans, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, cited it as part of a broader criticism of Chavez’s progressive legacy. <\/p>\n Abbot said Texas \u2014 a state with dozens of Confederate monuments \u2014 would no longer celebrate C\u00e9sar Chavez Day, saying the allegations “undermine the narrative that elevated Chavez as a figure worthy of official state celebration.\u201d <\/p>\n At the same time, groups like the nonpartisan Latino Victory Project, which focuses on developing Hispanic political leadership, said this current moment should not distract from the still-ongoing civil rights battles.<\/p>\n \u201cThose legacies are unchanged,\u201d said Paul Ortiz, a labor history professor at Cornell University and director of graduate studies for Latino Studies. \u201cAnd those legacies are all about people power.\u201d<\/p>\n What seems inevitable, Bustamante said, is that there will always be an asterisk next to Chavez\u2019s name.<\/p>\n \u201cDoes that take away the greatness of what his accomplishments were, the meaning of them? No, it doesn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cBut can we look past that to honor him? That\u2019s the tough part.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n