Fresno Bee: “Fresno pastor opposes renaming streets for Chavez”
By the Rev. B.T. Lewis
Special to The Fresno Bee
Tuesday, September 5, 2023
The letter written to the editor of the Fresno Bee on Aug. 20 by Dr. Sudarshan Kapoor is misleading and a blatant misrepresentation of the 1 Community Compact lawsuit position.
I believe that our community is intelligent enough to understand the difference between honoring Cesar Chavez, and choosing streets that have historical significance in our community. They are not the same.
Dr. Kapoor would have us manufacture peace without addressing injustice. That is the epitome of oppression. I believe that Cesar Chavez is indeed worthy of honor in both our back and front yards. However, honoring Cesar
Chavez does not have to include a dismantling of significant places in the history of our city. California Avenue, Ventura Avenue, and Kings Canyon Avenue carry significant relevance in the history of our communities. It was insensitive and selfish for our City Council to vote in favor of the street-renaming resolution.
1 Community Compact is a joint coalition of businesses and residents from southeast, southwest and south central Fresno united to preserve the unique history and heritage of our city streets in the spirit of “One Fresno”. The problem still remains as true as it was on March 9, 2023. The proposal to eliminate the names of California, Ventura and Kings Canyon Avenues is divisive and a travesty for our city.
Renaming streets of this magnitude without robust community engagement is an injustice. Public trust was violated, as we were intentionally misled, and the community was uninformed regarding procedures and opportunities for open community engagement. There was very little consideration given to the cost and burden to taxpayers, community members and business owners in regard to this name change.
There were no alternatives studied or considered. There was no consideration given to the significance and importance of the existing street names. Fresno's history and communities should be preserved and celebrated.
There was no public planning or development process engagement. There was no stakeholder, planning commission or community advisory committee notifications or reviews. Racism is the process by which systems and policies, actions and attitudes are imposed on others to create inequitable opportunities and outcomes for a particular group of people based on race. The very introduction of this resolution is the epitome of racism.
Racism is the misuse of power for personal agendas without including all of our communities. Racism is the injustice and reckless disregard for the history and heritage of others to accomplish your personal goals. And racism is the arrogant and bigoted practice of holding a grudge for 30 years and imposing that grudge on a new generation.
We are still asking our City Council to do what is right for our city bring this resolution back to the dais and begin the healing process in our community.
We are asking our City Council to adopt and share an open and robust process for renaming streets and give the community a meaningful opportunity to participate in the process. We are asking our City Council to also develop a committee and community engagement process that includes and represents the diversity of all of our communities and receive their recommendations.
We pray that our City Council will do what is right for all people in our city.
