AP Photo/Richard Drew
Cesar Chavez, civil rights advocate and United Farm Workers founder, is shown in this June 29, 1989 file photo.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Wednesday the city has begun the process of renaming César Chávez Boulevard, one week after sexual assault allegations emerged against the late civil rights leader.
District I Houston City Council member Joaquin Martinez brought the topic up during Wednesday’s meeting and said he was willing to work with the mayor on renaming the street located in Houston’s Second Ward.
“The community ultimately is now finding ourselves in a space [of] ‘Where do we go from here?'” Martinez said. “And so, Mayor, I’ve been talking to your team, and I want to make sure that we continue talking directly about what does it looks like. César Chávez street is in District I in Magnolia Park. There have been conversations about what does a name change look like.”
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Whitmire said the name change process is underway and has been expedited.
“Thank you for bringing that up. The planning director, [Vonn] Tran, has already started the process,” Whitmire said. “I look forward to your participation and the community engagement. … We’ll see some results quickly.”
Last Wednesday, the New York Times reported sexual assault allegations against Chávez, an influential Latino American civil rights leader known for his work with the United Farm Workers labor union during the 1970s. According to the Times, at least two women alleged they were raped or sexually assaulted as minors by Chávez.
Since the report, local, state and municipal governments across the country have had to grapple with schools, streets and holidays named in honor of Chávez.
Locally, besides the boulevard, a Houston ISD school is also named after the civil rights leader. The district recently renamed a school holiday that honored Chávez.
A Houston César Chávez march scheduled for later this month has also been canceled in the wake of the allegations.