Boulevard of Broken Promises
The hottest political controversy in Dallas right now involves the Dallas City Council's Trinity River committee's decision to disregard a survey it took for the renaming of a local street called Industrial Boulevard. The winning entry in said survey? César Chávez.
Some local politicos have tried to argue that the name César Chávez should be given to another local street called Ross Avenue instead. But there's something about the whole "consolation prize" aspect of that deal that doesn't seem quite right. After all, it was the Trinity River committee's decision to have a survey in the first place. And its decision to imply that whatever name won would be the name chosen. Going back on that decision now not only makes the Dallas City Council look bad, it makes the Dallas City Council look hispanophobic to boot.
Somehow I doubt we'd be experiencing the same controversy had the winner been Big Tex, Stephen F. Austin, or even Walker, Texas Ranger. But as I've noted before, there seems to be an inclination in our society to automatically associate anything Hispanic with inferiority. Which, given the fact that Hispanics are not the ones breaking any political promises in this controversy, seems quite ironic.
The hottest political controversy in Dallas right now involves the Dallas City Council's Trinity River committee's decision to disregard a survey it took for the renaming of a local street called Industrial Boulevard. The winning entry in said survey? César Chávez.
Some local politicos have tried to argue that the name César Chávez should be given to another local street called Ross Avenue instead. But there's something about the whole "consolation prize" aspect of that deal that doesn't seem quite right. After all, it was the Trinity River committee's decision to have a survey in the first place. And its decision to imply that whatever name won would be the name chosen. Going back on that decision now not only makes the Dallas City Council look bad, it makes the Dallas City Council look hispanophobic to boot.
Somehow I doubt we'd be experiencing the same controversy had the winner been Big Tex, Stephen F. Austin, or even Walker, Texas Ranger. But as I've noted before, there seems to be an inclination in our society to automatically associate anything Hispanic with inferiority. Which, given the fact that Hispanics are not the ones breaking any political promises in this controversy, seems quite ironic.
Labels: César Chávez, Dallas, Mexicano-Estadounidenses, Pensamientos Acerca de Política I
posted by Tonio Kruger at 10:03 AM
3 Comments:
I guess not all blogs are full of racist remarks :) Thank you for eloquently pointing out the irony of the issue and the inequality and prejudice some people in power have against minorities.
Tonio, You point out the true agony of the Cesar Chavez Avenue controversy. Hopefully it can be overcome now that the Hispanic community is strongly behind the Ross Avenue alternative, a much more approptiate alternative.
There better not be any backtracking by our leaders.
Thanks for the compliment, tax payer julie.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed about the Ross Avenue alternative, Bill. As I said in my post, I don't really approve of it but I'm enough of a political realist to suspect this might be the best alternative. It's certainly better than ignoring the whole issue altogether.
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