There's no good excuse for opposing streets named after King

[KG]

http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2003/11/17/Columns/There_s_no_good_excus.shtml

By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist
Published November 17, 2003

I could go the rest of my life without hearing another group of white people explaining all their good, practical reasons for not wanting to name a street in their city after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Good grief, to hear them squawk, you would think they were being asked to pay reparations or something. It's a street name.

Always the same kind of stuff. Inconvenient to the property owners. Unfair to the people who have to change their addresses. Confusing to the public, especially if it's a numbered street. (Cities rename streets all the time, but, for some reason, "Oak" and the like rarely cause the same ruckus.)

Sometimes, a slightly more honest fear slips out: Property values will go down because the King name signals a bad neighborhood. (All the more reason for cities to choose their biggest and best streets, not just their poorest areas, for the honor.)

You know what would come as a sweet relief, a welcome break in the monotony? It would be great to hear a group of black citizens fight a King renaming for the same reasons.

"This has nothing to do with race," they might protest. "We like living on Oak Street. Why should we be inconvenienced for the sake of somebody else's political correctness? Why don't we just rename a little park?"

Right.

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ya know, there are streets being renamed for ronnie ray-gun all over america (it's an organized effort) - not a peep is heard about that - but try to rename a something for MLK and watch the fireworks go off. :puke:

[Benhurst]

1. I think every street running north and south should be renamed

Ronald Reagan (street, avenue, lane, etc.) and every street running east and west should be named George Herbert Walker Bush (street, avenue, lane, etc.)or George Walker Bush (street, avenue, lane, etc.)

All squares should be named Nancy Reagan and all circles should be named after either Barbara Bush or Laura Bush.

As it now stands, there are so many streets named after lesser figures, the average Murkin gets confused.

[Darth_Kitten]

2. Seems petty.

:(

[KG]

3. racist, too

:grr:

[DarkPhenyx]

10. Racist in what way?

Please explain.

[sangh0]

18. It's already been explained

read the first post

[DarkPhenyx]

9. Seems silly actually.

[buddhamama]

4. possible reasons

racism for some. for others, not wanting to honor the Man and what he stood for, Equality and Justice.

[SoCalDem]

5. Seems petty, but names of streets often convey more than the name

For instance.. in my home town, if you had an address consisting of a single or double digit, you most assuredly lived "on the hill".. Those were huge lots..old money.. and the addresses were sort of like..

7 Crestview...or 18 Country Club Drive..


Other neighborhoods (like I lived in) had number addresses 10th street, etc.. or names like Pershing, Washington, Jefferson, etc..


People who live in the community know what kind of neighborhood you lived in by the address you gave..

A large new high school here was given the name of MLK.. The locals howled and howled, not because of the name, but because they feared that when their kids applied to college, the fact that they graduated from MLK high school, "might" indicate a lower standard of education that sadly is prevalent in inner city neighborhoods.. This school is in a neighborhood of brand new homes that START at $275,000.00...

[DarkPhenyx]

6. There is an excellent reason not to. Two in fact.

Don't need them. Don't have the money to spend doing it.

Time to move on and find someone else to start re-naming streets after.

[SoCalDem]

7. Even after they re-name them, people still call it by the original

They re-named Pennsylvania MLK and people still say .."Take the Pennsylvania exit off the 60".. New people are flummoxed when they do not see a Pennsylvania, and often get lost..

Old habits die hard :)

[DarkPhenyx]

8. Yeah, I've run into that too.

Only once though.

The worst is when they rename a section of a street, in the middle of the street, and keep the ends on either side as the old name. No matter what the new name is that is an incredibly stupid decision by someone desperately in need of an ass whoopin.

[SoCalDem]

11. That's what they did here too

The part that the off ramp is on is MLK.. a few miles down the road it's still Pennsylvania..:shrug:

[KG]

12. someone else = renaming streets after ray-gun seems to be vogue

there never seems to be a controvery or foot dragging when it come to renaming a street after this white RW icon.

[DarkPhenyx]

17. Prehaps...

...I'd protest agasint it here in Raleigh. Till it happens here there isn't much I can do about it.

There isn't any more or less need for another Ronnie Ave than there is for another MLK Blvd.

[Laughing Mirror]

13. Does the MLK appellation really indicate a bad neighborhood?

I have been in cities (Philadelphia, maybe?) where Martin Luther King boulevards were in relatively neutral downtown and business areas, and admit I was surprised.

In my old neighborhood in DC, which is a poor neighbhood, when Nichols Avenue was renamed Martin Luther King Jurnior Avenue many years ago, I thought it was a good thing. Who in the area who lived on this street or used it every day ever knew or cared who Nichols was? But having a street named after Martin Luther King actually means something.

Although I no longer live in that neighborhood, I have noticed that another old street, Portland Street, which was an exit off the freeway, has been renamed Malcolm X Street.

And at one point it connects with Martin Luther King Junior Avenue.

[ShaneGR]

15. Generally it does, at least in a lot of cities I've been in

MLK Blvd's are commonly in the rougher areas of town.

[spinbaby]

14. I'm generally against street name changes

It inconveniences everyone for years and years. We STILL get misaddressed mail from when our street name changed 11 years ago--good thing the post office knows where they go. I'm in favor of naming the main roads in some of those fancy new subdivisions Martin Luther King Boulevard.

[RebelOne]

16. Well, I live in the Atlanta area

and naturally, we have a Martin Luther King Street downtown.

[Hep]

19. In my town, MLK Jr. Blvd is an exception to the rule

that Chris Rock laid out:

When a white friend told Chris Rock that he was on a street called Martin Luther King and asked what he should do, Chris Rock answered, "Run! I don't care where you live in America, if you're on Martin Luther King Boulevard, there's some violence going on."

[Scott Lee]

20. I saw this sick little drama played out in Salt Lake City

Some years ago, the city council determined that a small part of 600 South, running east and west, would be renamed "Martin Luther King Boulevard". As is policy they held a public meeting about it, expecting no big row.

My Gods, you'd have thought they had asked for everyone's first born kid.

Every closeted racist and bigot in a hundred mile radius came out of the woodwork to either show up and voice their opposition, or write in to the papers as to why this renaming for King was a bad idea. One letter referred to Dr. King as "Martin Lucifer Coon" and said that there was no way his tax money was going to pay for a road named after a "fornicating commie". I suspect the guy used a pen name.

In the end, they got passage of the resolution and ironically enough it laid the groundwork for another renaming of a street in Salt Lake City - "Cesar Chavez Way". The moral of this story is, never EVER think that the most vile forms of racism you ever read about in the history books is dead. Not by a long shot. It's always lying hidden in places you least expect it, ready to spring out with no warning.