Testimony before the Subdivision Subcommitee Sept. 3, 2020 about renaming Lamar St. in Dallas.

TESTIMONY BEFORE SUBDIVISION SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE CITY PLAN COMMISSION – 9/3/2020 by Edward H. Sebesta Nothing on the landscape should be named after Mirabeau Lamar. Naming something after Mirabeau Lamar is an expression of contempt for the humanity of Native Americans, Latin Americans and African Americans.

Do not adopt the use of honorary naming with toppers or side bars. Botham Jean should not be hugging Mirabeau Lamar or laid to rest next to him in street signs.

The current Dallas Municipal code on street renaming was first proposed in the 1980s and quite properly denounced by civil rights leader Elsie Faye Heggins as an attempt to block renaming streets after civil rights leaders. It is an example how white supremacy is written into the municipal code of Dallas.

The municipal code is also clearly designed, with its required supermajorities and requirement for multiple council members to propose street name changes, to sneak at-large districts through the backdoor into the governance of Dallas. It is an obvious attempt to subvert the historic 14:1 civil rights decision by the federal courts to bring racial justice to Dallas.

The code was amended to allow Texas Instruments to rename parts of Floyd to Texas Instruments Blvd. The municipal code is very Dallas in the way it sycophantically panders to the rich and powerful but tells minorities to eat dirt.

The proper recommendation is to amend the municipal code to only require a simple majority and to rename Lamar St. after Botham Jean.