Is Fresno embracing ‘cancel culture’ or anti-racism? City to review buildings, streets
A Fresno committee will review the names on city assets in a move that could see the links to people deemed racist removed from street signs and other places.
The Fresno Historic Preservation Commission will be tasked with reviewing all of the asset names and can recommend changes. The final decision will be made by the City Council.
The move comes about a month after Fresno City College President Carole Goldsmith said the college plans to rename its baseball facility, Euless Park, after learning John Euless was a prominent KKK leader in Fresno in the 1920s.
The city’s new policy drew opposition from Councilmember Garry Bredefeld. “What we’re doing is bringing cancel culture to our city,” he said on Thursday. “Where do we draw the line?”
The first asset brought up by the council was the Meux Home Museum, a 16-room Victorian mansion on R and Tulare streets owned by a volunteer in the Confederate Army.
Thomas Richard Meux volunteered in the 9th Tennessee Volunteer Regiment of the Confederate Army before he worked as a doctor in Fresno, according to Fresno Bee archives.
Bredefeld brought up streets named after former Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom owned slaves.
Councilmember Esmeralda Soria, who sponsored the resolution, said the conversation about names is the right process.
“We want to be proud of naming buildings after people that make us feel proud of this community,” she said. “It’s not about cancel culture. ... It’s about acknowledging it and rectifying it.”
Monuments around the country have been removed either after a vote or by demonstrators following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Statues of Edward Carmack in Nashville, Tennessee, and Col. Hans Christian Heg in Madison, Wisconsin, are just two examples of monuments that have come down.
The city of Fresno saw controversy in 2017 when the council voted to put “In God We Trust” on the walls of the City Hall chambers, Councilmember Miguel Arias noted.
“And the world didn’t end,” he said. “It’s time for us to have these conversations.”
Councilmember Luis Chavez said he wanted to stress “a humanistic approach” would be necessary because “nobody’s perfect.”
It was unclear Thursday when the commission will report back to the council.
Fresno resident Gary Hut said he was behind the resolution. “There’s nothing wrong with changing the name when the foundation is rotten,” he said.
