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October 7, 2020 Edward H. Sebesta Dallas, TX edwardsebesta@gmail.com Jesuorobo Enobakhare Jr. Chair Community Police Oversight Board Dallas City Hall – 2CN 1500 Marilla St. Dallas, TX 75201 Dear Mr. Enobakhare Jr.: As you may already know there is an effort underway to rename Lamar St. to Botham Jean Blvd. I am writing this letter however specifically focused on having the Dallas Police Headquarters on a street named after Mirabeau Lamar. I have a paper on Mirabeau Lamar’s crimes against humanity at this webpage. http://templeofdemocracy.com/lamar-street.html It was challenging writing about his many crimes since they had a wide scope in both the types and the geographic range. Genocide against Native Americans in Texas and driving the Creeks out of Georgia. Running ads for runaway slaves in his Georgia newspaper. Attempting the invasion of New Mexico, supporting filibusters to create new slave states, making speeches to defend slavery, and thuggishly threatening Nicaragua. And there is more! I enclose a flyer with a bullet list of his crimes and on the reverse side is a sample of the runaway slave ads from his newspaper in Georgia. People can download a pdf of this flyer at the same URL listed above. What message does having the Dallas Police Department Headquarters (DPD HQ) on Lamar Street send to police officers? It says Black Lives Don’t Matter. If they did the street name would be intolerable. The name of the street is an expression of contempt for the value of African American humanity. It says that though the DPD might have diversity training or whatnot in the end, when push comes to shove, when it comes down to what essentially reveals Dallas’ commitment to recognizing the humanity of its African American citizens they aren’t really committed, they are just making superficial expressions, they are just kidding. The message of changing the name would be very clear and direct, that the value of the humanity of African Americans is a serious concern for the City of Dallas. It is expressed directly, physically, concretely in the change of the name. The message of not changing the name is that the expressed values of the City of Dallas regarding diversity and the humanity of African Americans doesn’t set expectations of real practice of police work or connect with the real world. It says to police officers in a
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subtle way, do as we say, not as we do, for if we meant it, we would do something about the Lamar Street name. The message is more pernicious because it isn’t recognized as a message and goes into peoples’ thinking, including police officers, unrecognized, unfiltered and forms part of a set of values, at an unaware level, in which police officers judge the humanity of African Americans. Since this is a street named after Mirabeau Lamar it also a street which expresses contempt for the values of Native Americans and Latin Americans also. I ask the Community Police Oversight Board to pass a resolution to have the name of Lamar Street in Dallas to a person who wasn’t a racist and who didn’t commit crimes against humanity. Let’s have Black Lives Matter more than the cost of reprinting business cards or whatever complaint is put forward in opposition to name changing.
Let’s not have white supremacy be part of the face of the DPD HQ. Sincerely Yours,
Edward H. Sebesta CC: City of Dallas Mayor, all Dallas City Council members, all Dallas City Planning Commission members, and all members of the Dallas Community Police Oversight Board.