Friday, June 20, 2008
Gays join Hispanics to fight for César Chávez Boulevard
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Ben Briscoe/Dallas Voice
LULAC 4871 President Jesse Garcia on Industrial Boulevard.
Driving down Industrial Boulevard near downtown Dallas, you get what the name implies. Lining the street, there are piles of scrap metal, an abundance of bulldozers and rusted sheds that once marked thriving businesses.
The journey is a long way away from the flowing streams, lush green spaces and architectural beauty that are being promised from the Trinity River Corridor Project, a 16-year redevelopment with a price tag of more than $1 billion, that will lie along the street.
That’s why the project committee proposed to change the street name in late May.
“The river is changing, so the name should as well. It was a way to get people excited about the Trinity,” Project Director Rebecca Dugger said.
But what was once designed to build excitement has ended up dividing the city along ethnic lines after the project committee went against input from more than 20,000 people who voted in an unscientific Web and phone poll on six possible names. Of them, 52 percent wanted to rename Industrial to César Chávez Boulevard in honor of the Hispanic activist who fought for workers’ rights and the lower class.
Despite seeing the numbers, the committee pushed for another name and will ultimately recommend that the Dallas City Council vote to rename the street Riverfront Boulevard.
“I’ve always thought that the street shouldn’t be named after one individual person,” said David Neumann, city council member and chairman of the Trinity River Corridor Project Committee. “It should be more inclusive of the project as a whole.”
The César Chávez Task Force, formed by the national organization League of United Latin American Citizens, quickly spoke up, saying they are “disappointed that council members are not supporting Hispanic constituents,” and implying that council members thought the name was too ethnic for businesses that would be along the street.
Over the past week, the group reached out to LGBT organizations to adopt a resolution pushing for the Chávez name.
“People know him as a Hispanic hero, but Chávez actually marched in Pride parades and rallies also,” said Jesse Garcia, president of LULAC 4871 — the Dallas Rainbow Council, the nation’s only LULAC chapter serving the LGBT community. “He also always wore a button with a pink triangle to support our community.”
Chávez’s granddaughter Christine is a longtime straight ally of the LGBT community and even hosted a gay wedding in her East Los Angeles home Tuesday, June 17, to mark the California marriage victory. Christine remembers her grandfather being someone who stuck up for all people, including LGBT people. She also thinks back to him taking her and her sister to gay events on several occasions.
“He always taught us that in order to gain equality you had to fight for the equality of all,” she said. “Not only is it the right thing to do, but he always knew that no movement could be successful without allies.”
Christine gave the example of a time when a vineyard out of San Francisco treated its workers unfairly.
“The strong coalition between the two groups allowed us to go to the LGBT community and have them put pressure on the company. The matter was quickly solved,” she said.
That’s exactly the kind of benefit that Garcia sold the LGBT community on in the fight for the Chávez name.
“In 2005 we lost the marriage battle by a large percentage,” he said. “It would have been great to have the Hispanic community help us then, so I think it is beneficial to partner with other minority communities to make sure all discrimination is stopped dead in its tracks.”
Garcia continued the argument at the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas meeting last week by saying, “In 20 or 30 years when we want to name a street after Ed Oakley or Lupe Valdez, we are going to need help. So guess what, 20 or 30 years from now the majority of votes in Dallas will be Hispanic votes.”
Oakley quickly yelled across the room, “I won’t be dead then, but thanks,” and the crowd burst into laughter before passing the resolution 80-2.
According to Garcia, the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance also seriously considered the resolution, but was not able to get their support passed before a final decision was made on the name.
While the city will go with Riverfront, Garcia says the experience was not all bad. According to him, the event greatly advanced Hispanic-LGBT relations.
“The people on the task force — like Hector Flores who is basically the voice of the Dallas Hispanic community — already know that the LGBT community dramatically backed their cause, and the people on the task force are very appreciative and are going to remember this,” he said.
The task force is now trying to find another street that can be renamed to honor Chávez. Their preference is Commerce Street downtown.
And even though Industrial wasn’t named for Chávez, his granddaughter Christine is just happy her grandfather’s memory and work lives on.
“He was always a very humble person, so he might have been embarrassed by the tributes to him,” she said. “But as a family we hope that events and honors likes these will prompt people who don’t know him to look him up and remember that my grandfather for his entire life fought for the rights of all poor people. By just having his name out there, it’s our hope that people will recommit themselves to that work.”
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Comments
John McClelland Verified
Of the choices, Cesar Chavez is an appropriate name given the area it represents. I voted for the name at LULAC's behest (shhh don't tell anyone, since I'm not a Dallas citizen anymore). We have an MLK and a Malcolm X, so what is wrong with Cesar Chavez?
If the Council would like a fluid sounding name for their street, then they can go right ahead and name the upcoming toll road after the river. Afterall, the road will be flooding quite often and will be situated inside some levees. That would be an appropriate road to name after the river.
5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
As a straight white male, I fear the thought of minorities joining forces.
5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
I honestly don't care anymore (about the street name).
Pavel, check yo'self. DMN reported last August that census results showed hispanics have edged out non-hispanic whites in Dallas Co. So, you and I are technically minorities in this here "majority-minority" county my friend.
For the record, majority-minority is quite the oxymoron...can't believe the Census Bureau would allow it to be used. And FYI, Dallas Co. is running a bit behind on this one - Texas has been majority hispanic since 2005.
5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
snowboard9 Anonymous
I vote to keep it the way it is and not spend another dime debating what to name a street.
However, I would like to propose to rename "President George Bush Turnpike" to "Al Gore Turnpike".
5 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Bill Betzen Verified
People ask what Cesar Chavez did in Texas. Go to the Texas Handbook online, a web site managed by the Texas State Historical Commission. Place Cesar Chavez into the search engine there and you get 9 hits relating to his name and/or his work relating to Texas. Put Harry Hines (you know - that major north/south street going by Parkland) and you only get three hits. I challenge anyone to google all the personal names on Downtown Dallas streets and see if the number of hits even averages three. Chavez has 9. Ok Sam Houston has many but that is a different issue......
Jim Schutze has a wonderful opinion piece on the Cesar Chavez street naming chaos at http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-...... I only disagree with him slightly. The move of the name to Ross Avenue from Industrial, while it may have started as an "accommodation," is ultimately resulting in a much better solution for many reasons. Here are some, most of which were included in letters sent to the mayor and city council:
Minority leaders were virtually ignored for Dallas street names prior to 1960. That must be corrected!
Last year 70% of Kindergarten students in Dallas ISD were Hispanic. They are the future Dallas must build for.
Ross Avenue runs along the southern edge of what was once called Little Mexico. It is only 6 blocks from the old St. Ann's school which was in the heart of Little Mexico and is one of the few buildings preserved from that history. (See photo at http://www.studentmotivation.org/litt... which also shows southwest tip of Ross.)
Today the northeast end of Ross is majority Hispanic, as are many locations since 43% of the total Dallas population is Hispanic.
Hundreds of thousands of workers in Dallas (myself included) from all ethnic groups grew up working in conditions that Cesar Chavez successfully worked to change in Texas and across the nation.
Ross Ave is the largest Hispanic gathering place in Dallas on Sunday mornings. They attend multiple masses by the thousands at the Cathedral of Guadalupe each weekend on Ross. Also, the Virgin of Guadalupe played a significant role in the daily life of Cesar Chavez.
Ross Avenue was the gathering place for the largest Civil Right march in Texas history! From 10:00 AM to well past 2:00 PM on April 9, 2006, Ross Avenue was filled with people walking most of it's length downtown, peacefully filling the street from sidewalk to sidewalk. (See 2 PM photo I took that day, and others linked down the page at http://www.studentmotivation.org/litt....) It is estimated over 500,000 people were present in the march. Most were Hispanic. It is certain Cesar Chavez would have loved the non-violent nature of this huge march!
Many of the businesses on Ross are either Hispanic (62%), or want to reach out to the Hispanic community for business reasons, and will support this change.
A historical marker is being planned for the most-walked Ross Avenue intersection at North Market in the West End. It will document the history of the Ross brothers in Dallas and possibly also the Carondolet name which was originally on that section of the street for over 70 years. The Ross Avenue name was expanded and the Carondolet name deleted from maps sometime between 1930 and 1938. It is very appropriate that this naming process will lead to a historical marker that will better record the history of Dallas and bring almost forgotten pioneers back into public record and awareness.
Both school and church were the center for life for Cesar Chavez. Ross has both the Cathedral and the DISD Central Offices on it. This is especially appropriate.
Due to this process history will publically recorded in more accurate detail on a historical marker in the West End. People can now know the Carondolet name, and more details about the Ross brothers. In the same process a downtown street name will reflect the presence of an ethnic group who have literally helped build, and continue to build, our city.
To always push minority names outside downtown, as many have suggested, is a simple continuation of the "accommodation" scandals Jim Schutze painfully documented in the 1986 book, "The Accommodation: The Politics of Race in an American City." (Copies of his book are in the Dallas Library.)
Anyone who is interested in being involved in these efforts to rename Ross Avenue may want to go to http://www.cesarchaveztaskforce.com for more current information.
The one thing this street renaming process has underlined is the absolute need to better educate Texans about their own history. I was born in Texas 59 years ago and was only elsewhere for 4 years. For full transparency - I am a certified history teacher. Our true history, not necessarily the recorded one, is powerful, and when not written it is due to political reasons. We endanger our children and grandchildren to ignore that unwritten history, usually one of prejudice and mistreatment of minorities and the poor.
3 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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