Could there soon be a 10 mile stretch of freeway running through the heart of Fort Worth renamed in honor of human rights activist Cesar Chavez? That's what State Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth) would like to see. And he has once again shepherded a bill through the Texas House of Representatives that would do that. The House approved the bill last Thursday on a 131 to 13 vote.Now the bill must pass the Texas Senate. Burnam got a similar bill approved in the House in the last legislative session (2011), but it died in the Senate. This year the bill has squeaked through the Senate Transportation Committee by a 5 to 4 vote. Now it is up to State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) to round up enough votes in the Republican-dominated Senate to get the bill passed and sent on to the governor.
The Republicans have talked a lot about reaching out to the Hispanic community (the fastest-growing group of voters in the country, and a group the Republicans do very poorly with). If they were serious, this bill would be a very good start in Texas. Cesar Chavez is a hero in the Hispanic community, and deservedly so.
Unfortunately though, I think most of the GOP talk about reaching out to Hispanics is just that -- talk. The Texas GOP is among the most extreme-right-wing state parties in this country, and is controlled by a coalition of teabaggers and fundamentalists. That's going to make it very tough to get the Chavez bill through the Senate.
Will the bill pass and the freeway be renamed in honor of Cesar Chavez? I doubt it, but I hope I'm wrong. After all, stranger things have happened in the Texas legislature.
