The case to rename Cesar Chavez Plaza after Nathaniel Colley with Sacramento Observer’s Larry Lee

Sacramento is looking to rename it’s downtown Cesar Chavez Plaza after sexual assault allegations surfaced against the farm workers rights advocate last month. One such proposal is to rename the plaza after Nathaniel Colley, Sacramento’s first Black attorney.

Colley advocated for public housing and civil rights, earning him the nickname “Mr. Civil Rights of California”.

Throughout the span of his career Colley famously won the case Ming v. Hong , which stated any entity receiving federal funds could not discriminate against certain groups. He also fought for desegregating Sacramento's New Helvetia public housing development, which is now known as Alder Grove on Broadway. 

The Sacramento Historical Society has made recent attempts to fundraise for a statue in his honor in December of 2025, though a location has not been determined.

Larry Lee, president and publisher of Sacramento’s historic Black newspaper The Sacramento Observer, wrote an op-ed detailing why he believes Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Sacramento should be renamed to honor the historic figure.

CapRadio’s Riley Palmer sat down with Lee to get a better sense of his argument.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You recently wrote an op-ed detailing why Sacramento should rename Cesar Chavez Plaza after Nat Colley, Sacramento’s First Black Attorney. Who is he?

Nathaniel Colley came to Sacramento after graduating from Yale Law School at the top of his class. He was an attorney that fought very passionately about housing rights and equity at a time when Sacramento was very segregated.

There were racial covenants on the books that prevented African Americans from living in certain parts throughout the city. He not only worked on housing justice for local residents and those that were looking for places to live, but also worked really hard to break down barriers related to public housing.

He’s considered “Mr. Civil Rights of California”. He's the one that, at the time that it needed, was a voice that was unapologetically focused on breaking down those barriers and could do it at a level that every person could understand.

Can you explain why you think the plaza should be named after Nat Colley, as opposed to sticking with honoring farmworkers rights in Sacramento’s downtown?

I understand tremendously how important it is to give energy to the farm workers movement, particularly here in Northern California. I'm all in on supporting that.

I know historically we have talked for a long time about honoring Nat Colley and it hasn’t gone anywhere. 

There's been conversations about museums and buildings, statues and parks, for decades. Nothing has happened. The reason why I wrote that piece was because I know our city is facing a time where we're looking at naming something, and for me naming that plaza, having a statue there that is right next to and facing the historic city hall symbolizes something extremely great and very important for our community.

Nat Colley wasn't just an attorney who just practiced in Sacramento. He really helped give Sacramento the culture that it has of being a diverse city. We've been lauded as one of the nation's most diverse cities in the country and he's the one that is responsible for that. 

In your piece, you make that argument that we shouldn’t shy away from idolizing influential people, we just need to pick the right ones. Can you elaborate on that?

 I understand the hesitancy of naming it after a person. I understand the hesitancy of naming it after a man or any of those things. There have been some gross errors in judgment when naming certain monuments, parks and others, after people that we don't really know or know much about their history.

The difference as to why I say we need to name them after the right people, and why Nat Colley is that right person, is because his career has been above reproach. It has been well documented. It has been illustrated. He has been counsel to presidents and Supreme Court Justices. He is the type of person that if you are going to name anything after, he's the type of person that you need to name something after.

Q4: In your mind, how do you envision Nat Colley Plaza? Realistically, how do you think the city could finance redoing the plaza given its budgetary constraints?

 I recognize the financial challenges that the city is under, so nobody's looking to spend more money than we have. 

I could see a place that pays honor and tribute to someone who fought his entire life for the equity and equality of people throughout this region and throughout this country. The work that he did reverberates throughout the country, so a physical statue is one of the first things that I would like to see. Obviously some sort of naming of the plaza is something else.  

I went to San Jose State and there is a statue in honor of Tommy Smith and John Carlos, but there's another part of the platform that is designed for the students to stand up on and to speak and to address what are some of their concerns of the day. I could see something like that, which would pay tribute to this great legal mind who really did change the trajectory of Sacramento's history and this nation's history. 

 There's been an effort to try to start a fund with the Sacramento History Foundation related to a statue honoring that. There hasn't been a place designed to put it, but there are credible people that have been fundraising for that.

I would encourage people to look for that and, and find out a little bit more about this great legal mind that really did change the course of Sacramento, California, and this nation's history.