Ships, Streets And Honoring César Chávez
As long as one lives one would expect “things” to change or progress, but sometimes it seems that I am terribly mistaken. For one thing, there is a current movement to exclude Latino Studies in or from high or elementary school curricula. Then two more recent incidents, one at the national level and one in San Antonio, highlight even further why this is an important issue.
Last week the San Antonio City Council voted 7-to-3 to rename Durango Boulevard to Cesar Chavez Boulevard in memory of the late, great Latino labor leader and founder of the United Farm Worker’s Union.
The only dissenting votes came from the three council members who represent the north side districts, where most Anglos live. These three council members, not a Latino among them, argued that it would be confusing and costly to local businessmen — the costs of changing stationary would be too much, they said. Well, it isn’t if you have ever run an office. The other issue — confusion — is a laughable. Because what used to be called “Durango Boulevard” was confusing already — this street that stretches across the city actually had as many as seven names already. A San Antonio native, I didn’t get them straight myself until I was an adult.
At least, now it will have only one name and an appropriate one.
Earlier last week the United States Navy named the last of a new class of cargo ships the USS Cesar Chavez. Republican Congressmen Duncan Hunter of California objected, saying that naming the ship after the Latino labor leader would send the wrong signal about “the direction” of the Navy.
I’m not sure what “direction” he was talking about, but the bigger issue revolves around the ignorance of these objecting politicians. Some would call it racism, and I guess it is, but it also reflects a great deal of historical ignorance. I’m not saying that these folks are dumb, what I am saying is that they never learned how important Cesar Chavez is, not only Latinos, but to the entire country. This ignorance results partially from the exclusion of Latinos from our history books, and from every day public discourse.
Incidents such as these will continue to occur throughout the United States until we start teaching our children, all of them, accurate history in our school systems. I even think this would be appropriate in university and college curricula.
Just for the record. The only San Antonio city council members who voted for changing the name of the street to Chavez Boulevard are Latinos. Regardless of their personal ideologies, these seven Latinos stood as one on one of the most substantive issues facing this city in recent history. And, personally, that was nice to see.
[Photo Courtesy CCF]