Supporters of labor leader César Chavez are confronting a difficult split between the public figure they elevated and allegations of sexual abuse that have reshaped how some communities mark his name. The Associated Press reported that the reassessment is unfolding alongside swift changes to public tributes, including removed statues and canceled or renamed events tied to what had long been called César Chavez Day.
For Antonio Bustamante, a longtime Chavez supporter who once helped organize workers before joining Chavez’s security team, the question is personal and immediate. Bustamante said he has been trying to understand how his perception of Chavez can coexist with claims that Chavez groomed and sexually abused women and young girls. “I’m trying to figure out how emotionally and intellectually I’ll be able to understand my perception of him as an extremely good man,” Bustamante said, adding that his conflict is between the man he adored and “these things that are said he did.”
Bustamante said he learned of the allegations when an old friend called to tell him about an upcoming New York Times report. He described being pulled back to the faces of people in his orbit who had known and admired Chavez, and said “how their eyes would be devastated.” He also recalled the first time he saw Chavez speak outside the Arizona Capitol in 1972 as Chavez launched a hunger strike, describing how Chavez “gave us worth.”
In government offices and on public calendars, the changes have moved quickly. The AP reported that multiple states, cities and counties marked what had been César Chavez Day on Tuesday as Farmworkers Day, including Colorado making the name change official in the morning and Nevada’s governor declining to sign a proclamation. In California, it remains a recognized state holiday, and some state and local government offices were closed.
Officials and communities also acted after the allegations came out, with celebrations canceled or renamed and Chavez images removed. The AP said that nearly two weeks after the New York Times report detailing allegations of sexual abuse, some communities and rights groups are still deciding how Chavez should be remembered, and that his name and image have already been erased from monuments, streets and murals around the country.
Farmworker leaders and advocacy groups described the moment as one that underscores the movement’s collective nature. Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers, told the AP that the contradiction is unavoidable: “We have in one hand César Chavez, the man who committed horrible acts that we’re not going to justify,” Romero said. “On the other hand, we have César Chavez, the organizer who brought thousands and thousands of people together to be able to work for farmworkers, and improve their lives and working conditions.” Romero also said that “Unfortunately, both of those things came from the same person,” according to the AP.
Sehila Mota Casper, executive director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, said the farmworker movement was always driven by collective effort. “The rights and protections that came from it belongs to the people that built it,” Casper said, adding that it “wasn’t just one individual.” Voto Latino similarly pointed to the work done alongside farmworkers, saying, “The women who organized, marched, and sacrificed alongside farmworkers carried this movement on their backs.”
The AP also reported that political leaders from both parties condemned the alleged abuse and some positioned the developments within broader debates about Chavez’s progressive legacy. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas would no longer celebrate César Chavez Day, arguing that the allegations “undermine the narrative that elevated Chavez as a figure worthy of official state celebration.” At the same time, the AP reported that the nonpartisan Latino Victory Project said the moment should not distract from ongoing civil rights fights.
Paul Ortiz, a labor history professor at Cornell University and director of graduate studies for Latino Studies, said those larger legacies remain in place. “Those legacies are unchanged,” Ortiz said. “And those legacies are all about people power.”
Bustamante, the Yuma attorney, said he expects there will always be an “asterisk” next to Chavez’s name. “Does that take away the greatness of what his accomplishments were, the meaning of them? No, it doesn’t,” Bustamante said. “But can we look past that to honor him? That’s the tough part.”