On Aug. 7, the Salt Lake City Council will make a decision about naming a strip of 500 South — from 500 West to 700 East — the Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
We suggest a vote in favor. It is a worthy move for several very worthy reasons.
First, naming the street after Chavez will acknowledge the obvious on an official level. The population of Salt Lake City is changing. Hispanic citizens are moving quickly into the mainstream of local education, business, athletics, art, music and politics. Cesar Chavez Boulevard would make a nice thoroughfare to help them arrive.
Second, the boulevard has a symbolic purpose. By running from 500 West to 700 East, the roadway will bind the west side of town to the east. As traffic flows down from Trolley Square, past Main Street and toward Redwood Road, the Cesar Chavez Boulevard would echo the theme of the Winter Olympics Ethnic Village: "We Are One."
Third, the street keeps the name of a great man alive. Like Benito Juarez in Mexico and George Washington in America, Cesar Chavez was the Father of Liberty for Hispanic American workers. His fearless push for the rights of California farm workers in the 1960s led to major reforms in the grape and lettuce industry as well as the formation of the United Farm Workers union.
Born on a farm in Yuma, Ariz., in 1927, Chavez — as a 10-year-old boy — watched while his mother and father lost the family farm and were forced into the migrant stream. But like Martin Luther King Jr. before him, Chavez always believed in a peaceful resolution of conflicts.
"The truest act of courage," he said, "the strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice."
At the pinnacle of his influence, Chavez would accept only the going wage for an officer in the United Farm Workers union: $5,000 a year. He died in 1993 at the age of 66. Cesar Chavez Boulevard would be named during the 75th anniversary of his birth.
And that leads to the final reason a boulevard in his honor is appropriate. Just as Chavez was the catalyst for a new direction among Hispanic farm workers, his boulevard would serve as a catalyst for new directions locally. With Cesar Chavez Boulevard set in concrete, other things would appear possible. One can fathom a Rey Florez Youth Center, for instance; a Ricardo Sanchez Writing Program and — who can say? — maybe even the Pete Suazo Highway.