According to The Dallas Morning News, the plan was to rename nearly 6 miles of Jim Miller Road in honor of Rodriguez, a child who was killed Russian-roulette style by a white Dallas police officer 50 years ago. That proposal was denied by the City Plan Commission’s subdivision review committee earlier this month, in part due to the location of the proposed change.
Most of the street runs through Pleasant Grove, but Rodriguez lived in what is now Uptown. Some argued that there might be a better place for a Santos Rodriguez Road.
The person leading the charge behind the name change is Dallas City Council member Jaime Resendez. City Council members Adam Bazaldua and Tennell Atkins also signed on to the effort.
Resendez said he’d previously wondered why there wasn’t a street named after Rodriguez, and that it was his understanding the family didn’t want it to happen. But he recently saw a documentary about Rodriguez in which the family said they were upset that there wasn’t a street named after him in Dallas. “That’s kind of what compelled me to initiate this proposal,” Resendez said.
It would be a good idea to consider a street name change in a location more relevant to Rodriguez, according to Resendez. But he chose Jim Miller Road because it’s a major road in his district. “I was thinking ‘If I’m going to be the person to propose this, then I should consider a street in the district that I represent,’” Resendez said. “It disappoints me that I grew up in Dallas and didn’t know about Santos’ murder until I was in my early 30s,” he said. So, he wants Rodriguez’s name to be highlighted in a prominent way.
He said since his proposal, plenty of people have started asking who Rodriguez was. “So, I think that the proposal has already kind of enlightened some folks about the history behind his life and his murder,” Resendez said.“This family has been betrayed over the last 50 years repeatedly." – Hadi Jawad, activist
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In 1973, Rodriguez, a 12-year-old Mexican-American boy, and his brother were picked up by police who suspected they had robbed a vending machine. One of the officers tried coaxing the boys into confessing with a Russian-roulette interrogation, spinning the cylinder of his revolver before shooting, even though they had already said they did nothing wrong. The first time the officer did this, no bullet was fired. When the cop pulled the trigger the second time, he shot Rodriguez in the head, killing him instantly. Darrell Cain, the now-deceased officer who killed Rodriguez, was later convicted of murder but spent only about two and a half years in prison.
Resendez said the result from the committee was disappointing but that it’s all part of the process. He said the proposal will now go to the full city plan commission, which will likely deny it as well.
According to the News, some residents said they had concerns about the financial impact of changing the street name, which would force people to replace checks and driver’s licenses. Others said they were worried about having a daily reminder of a murder that happened in another part of town.
Resendez said some community members have expressed support for the change but an overwhelming majority opposed it. “But what I’ve also seen is a lot of support for a street in Dallas being named after Santos,” he said. “I think it’d be important for the city of Dallas to reckon with its past as it relates to Santos and his murder and memorialize him in this manner to honor his life and remind us of the injustices of the past while keeping us vigilant for our future.”
Mike Laux, an attorney for the family, couldn’t be reached for comment. However, he said after the meeting that while the family was disappointed with the committee's ruling, they understood the points raised by the opposition.
Hadi Jawad, who helped form the Santos Rodriguez Coalition, said the latest effort to rename a street after Rodriguez came as a surprise to him and colleagues. He said the story of Santos Rodriguez is a dark one, but it’s one the city shouldn’t forget. He’s been trying raise awareness about the story for some ten years now. Jawad was involved in efforts to have a recreational center renamed for Rodriguez. He was involved in the placement of a statue of Rodriguez in Pike Park, and he and others produced a documentary about Rodriguez.
“So, we’ve been in the struggle to make sure that this tragedy is not forgotten,” Jawad said. Despite his work with the Rodriguez family, Jawad didn’t have any advance notice about the proposed name change. He said he just happened to be on NextDoor when he saw people talking about it. The next morning, he called Resendez’s office to ask why they didn’t reach out for help on the proposed name change.
“We had to build a community to get all this stuff done,” Jawad said. “They just kind of bypassed that whole process. … We were shocked. I was quite shocked that a City Council member would initiate an effort like that without building community support first.”
He believes that if Resendez had reached out to activists about the effort it might have received more support from the committee. Either way, he thinks it’s a meaningful pursuit.
“I think it’s very important that we do this,” Jawad said of the name change. He added that a street name change has been promised to Rodriguez’s mother many times but it never happened. “This family has been betrayed over the last 50 years repeatedly,” Jawad said.
Jawad concedes that Jim Miller Road is not an ideal street to rename for Rodriguez. “We would have preferred the street to be in the neighborhood where he grew up, which is Uptown now,” Jawad said. Nonetheless, he was pleased to hear about the proposal.
“My initial reaction was ‘We’ve waited 50 years for this. Finally, something is on the table,’” Jawad said. “I was quite pleased with that. Finally we might see a street named after Santos Rodriguez. He richly deserves that. We need that marker in Dallas.”
