Alvarez: San Juan, Texas, has been a leader in Civil Rights

SAN JUAN, Texas – University professor and San Juan resident Stephanie Alvarez has made an impassioned plea for the historic San Juan Hotel to be saved, and possibly turned into a Civil Rights Museum.

San Juan leaders are considering demolishing the hotel and replacing it with a downtown conference center.

Alvarez spoke in the audience participation part of at a special meeting hosted by San Juan Economic Development Corporation. It was titled “Downtown Development Plan Open House,” and held at the San Juan Memorial Library.

Members of the audience that had signed up were supposed to speak for only two minutes. But emcee Brian Godinez of ERO Architects gave Alvarez two opportunities to speak. Second go round, Alvarez spoke about San Juan’s rich civil rights history. As she has done before, Alvarez proposed restoring the San Juan Hotel and turning it into a Civil Rights Museum.

Alvarez said:

“I just want to just speak quickly about the importance of San Juan in terms of history, and especially in civil rights. San Juan has been a leader in civil rights issues. Recently there was a meeting about planning at the area of the Jackson Ranch because the underground railroad actually ran through San Juan to Mexico. Fugitives, enslaved fugitives, left through here. That’s part of the beginning of the civil rights here. We had it right here in the city. 

“It was critical in terms of the civil rights movement. The City Commission of San Juan was the first Mexican American City Commission in all of the Rio Grande Valley. It all happened because of a man named Chuy Ramirez, who was a high school student who ran a newspaper press out of his house to help those Mexican Americans get elected. 

“And it’s been a pivotal point, especially in terms of the farm worker movement and the farm worker labor movement (led) by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta and the founding of the Texas Farm Workers Union here by Antonio Orendain. And now LUPE.

“So, I mention this also to say that, meeting with some folks who understand this history, there’s a lot already you can put in this museum. For example, there’s already a curated exhibit on the history of La Union Del Pueblo Entero, LUPE. There is also a traveling exhibit by the Refusing to Forget Project, which is a nationally recognized historical project, which talks about state sanctioned violence here in the Rio Grande Valley and specifically San Juan that was featured at the Texas State Museum and can be a permanent exhibit tomorrow in that museum. 

“And there are other historical things that are ready to go. My point is, there are endless possibilities out there. And so I just want to say that this is critical in general, and for the reasons I said, but also, unfortunately, our history is not taught in textbooks. It’s actually even banned to be taught. And so we have a responsibility as a community to now educate ourselves and share that history and make sure we preserve it and say what those people are doing is wrong. And by not demolishing the hotel, by restoring it, and maybe a museum, maybe not. You are going against what those people are doing, which is erasing history and not giving us access to it. I know this city commission and the city manager, I know that they’re not about of that.

“And I know that part of this is just because we haven’t had a conversation. And if we talk about it, I think we could come up with some really great ideas that don’t involve demolishing San Juan Hotel. Or erasing that history.”

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