Milwaukee – A bronze statue of the late César E. Chávez, the founding leader of the United Farm Workers, will be unveiled sometime this summer, according to an article in the Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA). The Chávez bronze statue will be placed in an area near the El Rey Grocery Store at the 900 block of S. César E. Chávez Drive.
Olivia Villarreal, Corporate Secretary of El Rey Holdings, Inc. (El Rey Food & Grocery store chain) is quoted by HNNUSA, stating “that her family is honored to have donated $10,000 to the bronze man size statue of César E. Chávez and would be responsible for any extra landscaping needed for the statue”.
Milwaukee County Supervisor, Peggy Romo-West, a founding member of the Cesar Chavez Drive Committee in 1995, stated “Bid 38 is doing great work in that area and the Villarreal family and everyone at El Rey is to be commended for their efforts to make Cesar E. Chavez Drive a Milwaukee attraction in the Latino community.”
In the early 1990s, Supervisor Romo-West and the late Marshall Vega teamed with former Alderman Jim Witkowiak to create Cesar E. Chavez Drive Committee.
The renaming of 16th street materialized when efforts were blocked by Hispanic leaders to stop the renaming of South Division High School to Cesar E. Chavez Bilingual University High School.
“History revisionists say that racist white South Division alumnus blocked the name change at South Division High School, but in reality, it was several Hispanic community leaders who blocked the name change, forcing the committee to change direction and rename 16th Street to Cesar E. Chavez Drive’, said Robert Miranda a founding member of the Cesar E. Chavez Drive Committee in 1995. “The funny thing is, many people thought we were talking about Cesar Chavez the boxer. We’ve come a long way since then”.
Miranda says that the early years to rename 16th Street met a lot of resistance and took tremendous effort to achieve because of the heavy racist attitudes.
“Peggy and others who walked the streets met with many door slams and insults in those days to get the job done”, said Miranda.
HNNUSA reports that the “Chávez bronze statue is part of a three year FARM Project to promote small business economic growth” designed to bring out the rich cultural environment needed to attract tourists, increase consumer retail, food and art base of the Latino community.
The Chávez bronze statue is projected to cost $40,000. The Chávez statue is being built by designer Geno Passara and his partner, according to HNNUSA.
There is funding campaign still going on. Contact the office of Alderman Jose G. Perez and ask about the Cesar E. Chavez Bid for more details.