It's good to see that someone is finally dragging rural East Texas kicking and screaming into the 1960s. One can only wonder what took them so long.
BEAUMONT - The road is not much over four miles long, but the controversy over its name has spread far and wide.
For 99 years, the stretch about 20 miles outside of town has been called Jap Road, named in honor of a Japanese rice farmer who lived in the area.
The name soon will join that long-ago farmer as a part of Jefferson County's past.
Bowing to criticism — much it from far beyond east Texas — the Jefferson County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 Monday to rename the road.
Residents along the road have until July 29 to come up with a new name.
"There's people who believe we're a bunch of racists," Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith said just before the vote. "That is so, so, so far from the truth."
After the vote, Commissioner Jimmie Cokinos said he was glad the court had finally planned to do something about Jap Road.
Cokinos said he was in New York City last weekend and saw a story in the New York Times about Jap Road.
"I really felt ashamed," he said.
This is a step in the right direction, but we'll know they're really serious when they change the names of Hebe Highway, Jigaboo Parkway, Slanteye Street, and Camel Jockey Court....
Clearly, this is a case of a word's meaning changing over time. What may have seemed acceptable a hundred or so years ago is now a common racial slur. What is disturbing about this scenario is the number of people who argued passionately in favor of keeping the name. If the road running in front of your trailer was White Trash Drive or Bubba Boulevard, how do you think you'd be feeling about it? A little sensitivity can go a long ways, y'all....
