One more road renaming to go

Couldn't resist this one.

In today's Herald-Sun, http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-568588.html, a real world reference to “Uncle Tom.” And in public, too. “Ouch?”

Donna, "Darla's" offending post has been removed (as well as the other one you pointed to, that was an omission on our part), so there's no need to respond to it.

I also removed your post that replied to it so that it wouldn't appear that you were arguing with yourself.

Ruby,

"Personally, I can't vouch for their use in polite company in the last ten years. I don't know anyone who talks like that - especially in public." I don't think this is polite company.

You seem to agree that the internet is public. Read my post 12/20 11:38 pm. There are plenty of examples of this on the internet.

I posted more examples in another comment (1:58 pm) that I made in answer to Darla which seems to have been lost. I'll repost that one later. (Notice, I'm being polite).

Are you not concerned that a group of African-Americans may not have had a voice in changing the name of their street?

How about another freedom fighter, Nobel peace prize winner Yasir Arafat?

Maybe the residents on the road should make the decision!

Mark, I think that's a great idea! I attended Barbara's funeral and was amazed at the diverse crowd of HUNDREDS of people who were touched and inspired by her life.

Then what about the Martin Luther King causeway as we head into Durham from Chapel Hill on 15-501?

Uh, what about it, Jayson?

"Uh", I'm just wondering if we petition Durham to change that one, too, to cut down on confusion.

To your first post, they might wanna go with "Old Martin Luther King Road" to fit the already confusing nature of the town's road names. Like "Old Greensboro Road".

MLK Blvd in Durham is not in the response area for Orange County 911, so there should not be any confusion with the MLK Blvd in Chapel Hill.

I understand that emergency services like to avoid similar street names. So a change is likely. Whatever name is chosen, I hope we don't lose the history of having a road named Martin Luther King for a number of years. Perhaps the new signs can have a smaller sign beneath them that says "Historical Martin Luther King, Jr. Street."

Wouldn't people get sick of a long name like "Barbara Booth Powell Street" after a while? I would. Every time you ordered something online or on the phone, having to spell it out, filling in forms where the name of your street goes off the end of the form, the inevitable manglings of your address by corporate computers, etc. I'd think twice before buying a house on a street with anybody's full name on it.

Especially if it's someone noble and upstanding. I'd know that after a few years of repeating that name over and over every day, the best case scenario is I'd cease to associate that name with a person - it'd just be a string of phonemes. This is me, Thirtyninebarbaraboothpowellstreet. Worst case is the name would actively annoy me, which would really be an unfortunate testament to the person it was meant to memorialize.

An article in yesterday's paper said a number of the residents on the CURRENT MLK street were opposed to the change--for all the same reasons the Airport Rd. people were opposed to a road name change. Guess they must all be racists as well?

Anyone? Buehler?

For some reason the link didn't show...(at least in the preview)let's try that again...
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/news/story/1941856p-8300402c.html

It was the Chapel Hill News, BTW.

Melanie,

I saw that article, too, and was surprised by it. I was under the impression that the residents of Martin Luther King St. didn't mind the change. Jan Crosby references a poll in the article. Who took the poll? Was it the NAACP? Was it the renaming committee? Did ANYONE actually consult the residents of MLK St.? I did a quick review of the minutes from Apr. 19, May 24, and Jun 14 on the town's website and, unless I missed it, no resident from that neighborhood spoke. I wonder if they were afraid of being labelled Uncle Toms and Aunt Jemimas? This adds a whole new dimension to this issue.

I guess it doen't make a difference now since it's a done deal; but if the town is going to compensate the residents and business owners on Airport Rd. for their inconvenience, it seems only fair that they should also compensate the residents of MLK St.

Why don't you ask the residents of Martin Luther King Street whether they were afraid of being labelled? Not a single person in that article says or implies that was their motivation for not speaking out. What's explicitly stated by one resident is that she thought the renaming would never happen, and thus it wasn't worth worrying about. She was wrong about that, and now that it's happened, she's understandably feeling inconvenienced by the name change.

The basic fallacy at the root of that article is that it's somehow unexpected to hear that the residents of a street to be renamed would feel inconvenienced by it, in this case, unexpected because most of the residents are black and the renaming is the result of an effort to more prominently honor a civil rights leader.

If they lived on Nathan Bedford Forrest Street, or Josef Stalin Promenade, or Main Street, they'd be similarly inconvenienced by a name change of any sort. Why should they feel any less inconvenienced, just because they're black? Is it the expectation of the white community that the black community be unified on all issues? Did anyone ever claim unanimity on this issue among members of the black community? Would anyone have expected that?

This points to another fallacy, and that's the idea that proponents of the name change uniformly associated the issue of inconvenience -- new addresses, new stationery -- with racism. I heard very few people dismiss the issue of inconvenience entirely, a few more (including myself) express skepticism about how awful the transition would really be, and most of the decisionmakers state that the issue of inconvenience and cost was real. Clearly the decisionmakers acknowledged the reality of the problem by providing for compensation.

Weighed in the balance, their decision was that the public good of naming the street Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. outweighed the inconvenience that would be visited upon those living and working along Airport Blvd. I'd like to know what decision an elected body _ever_ makes that doesn't involve a similar sort of calculus, balancing issues of inconvenience against other issues related to the common good. And when you don't like it, you can vote them out.

I think the issue that worried more people was the history argument, which in another era might have been called the "heritage argument" which was routinely trotted out to stymie change, especially momentum to change created by the civil rights movement. In those cases, these arguments were explicitly (and even proudly) racist. In this case, a few people were too quick to level accusations of racism in my opinion. But if you're going to be cowed by the ill-considered remarks of a few (and being a trafficker in intemperate remarks, I know of which I speak), then you're never going to get anywhere.

It's no good to say (or to try to say for someone else, who hasn't said anything of the sort, but whose mind you think you can read) that you _didn't_ speak up for fear of being called something you didn't want to be called. You don't know what you're going to be called, really; and being called a racist, or a communist, or a depraved Democrat, doesn't make you one. But if you're a fearful sort, you're not going to get far in any sort of public debate whatever the issue is.

Enough digression. What was the story here? That some people who live on a street about to be re-named feel inconvenienced? Or that our black community comprises many people who think for themselves and don't always agree?

In either case, not much of a story.

"Clearly the decisionmakers acknowledged the reality of the problem by providing for compensation." Yes, for the residents and business owners on Airport Rd. specifically. No mention has been made of the folks on MLK street. These people seem to have been left completely out of the loop. Where was their voice in all this? I'm wondering if ANYONE consulted them, that's all.

"Did anyone ever claim unanimity on this issue among members of the black community? Would anyone have expected that?" I don't think anyone would have expected that.

"The basic fallacy at the root of that article is that it's somehow unexpected to hear that the residents of a street to be renamed would feel inconvenienced by it, in this case, unexpected because most of the residents are black and the renaming is the result of an effort to more prominently honor a civil rights leader" So, then, why weren't the residents of MLK street consulted? The residents of Airport Rd. were. Was it just assumed that they didn't mind because they are black? Apparently, there is a plan to have the post office meet with the people on Airport Rd. Has any such offer been made to the residents of MLK street?

"If they lived on Nathan Bedford Forrest Street, or Josef Stalin Promenade, or Main Street, they'd be similarly inconvenienced by a name change of any sort. Why should they feel any less inconvenienced, just because they're black?" This situation is just a bit more complicated, don't you think? If it wasn't, why form a committee and spend $15,000 on a facilitator? Why didn't the folks on MLK street have a voice on the committee? They are affected by this, too!

"our black community comprises many people who think for themselves and don't always agree" Why didn't they speak up? I put forth a theory that they didn't speak up out of fear and I think it's a legitimate observation. It's pretty clear from reading this blog what most Chapel Hill "progressives" think of the likes of Edith Wiggins, Colin Powell, and Condy Rice; black folk who speak up against the grain are Uncle Toms and Aunt Jemimas.

"not much of a story."

I, for one, am bothered by what I see as a glaring oversight in this whole debate. I bet there are other Chapel Hillians, black and white, who feel the same way. Sorry that you don't, Duncan.

The residents were at least notified, if not consulted, if the story (or, at least, one resident) has the story right:

"Council said she did receive a packet explaining the proposal and what it would mean to her.

“I threw it in the trash,” she said.

“I really didn't think that much about it because it's something I thought would blow over.”'

Unless Danielle Council is the only person in the neighborhood who was notified, or if this "packet" is a fiction (Can anyone document its existence?), then we can reasonably conclude that the members of the neighborhood knew what was going on, and that someone (the town?) made a special effort to tell them.

Otherwise, you raise some questions that I can't answer. I agree that their argument for compensation is probably as compelling as the one for residents and business owners along Airport Road. If their views were taken for granted -- a point I'm not willing to concede, absent evidence -- that would be troubling.

Again, though, you must admit you're engaging in the purest speculation with your theory about why members of that neighborhood didn't speak up, even though at least two residents have provided you two real reasons they didn't speak up -- they thought it would blow over and didn't care (Danielle Council), or they supported the renaming of Airport Road knowing it would mean a name change for their own street (Janie Riggsbee). Should their explanations be discounted in favor of your theoretical one? Are they suffering some weird Stockholm syndrome variation -- that would be an interesting theory, too!

Back in the real world, no one has offered the "Uncle Tom" defense except you.

Finally, you must also admit it's absurd and impossible for you to look into the minds of "Chapel Hill progressives" and conclude that their feelings about the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor and the Mayor Pro Tem are of a piece because they are black and "speak against the grain," whatever grain you're talking about. Must it actually be said that Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice have very different reputations among people on the left because of their very different approaches to internationalism and war? The only way you can lump Colin Powell together with Condoleeza Rice, at least on the basis of their roles in this last administration, is to see them only as black and to forget everything else. How Edith Wiggins fits into the Powell-Rice discussion, other than by virtue of the color of her skin, is beyond me. I think she'd be very surprised to find herself in the ideological company (since you pitted her against progressives, an ideological division) of Condoleeza Rice. Hell, I think Colin Powell would be surprised.

In any case you're still speculating, and no matter how much the issue gets muddied by name-dropping Rice and Powell and Wiggins, the fact is you don't know, until you ask, why the residents of Martin Luther King Street were not involved in the Airport Road discussion. Someone did ask -- Matt Dees -- and not a single person said they were afraid to speak out for fear of being labeled an Uncle T. or an Aunt J.

[By the way, I haven't heard those terms used seriously, in actual conversation, in twenty years. Out of curiosity about language, can anyone vouch for their continued use outside the white community?]

The race card is a wild card, and it's pretty clear that virtually everyone feels free to play it when it suits their other interests. That fact should be the most offensive of all.

ouch.

“I really didn't think that much about it because it's something I thought would blow over.” By blow over, I assume Ms. Council means she didn't feel the renaming would actually happen. Since she opposed the renaming, it's obvious she didn't feel her opinion would matter, one way or the other.

“'I have small kids that all have to know their address,” said a three-year Martin Luther King Street resident who would identify herself only as Tasha'". Why does this lady feel like she can't give us her last name?

“Should their explanations be discounted in favor of your theoretical one?” I don't discount the reasons they gave which are exactly the reasons Airport Rd. residents gave. For those who spoke out, look what it got them. They were labeled racist.

“Someone did ask – Matt Dees – and not a single person said they were afraid to speak out for fear of being labeled an Uncle T. or an Aunt J.” Come on, do you really think they would have said it? Don't you think there were plenty of Airport Rd. businesses and residents who did not speak up for fear of being called racist? My guess is that the folks on MLK street feared the same.

“Unlike those who supported the renaming of Airport Road to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Council wasn't buying that renaming had anything to do with racial healing or honoring the black community.”

“That's stupid,” she said, sitting in her living room with daughter, Whitnee Baldwin.

“You got so many MLK boulevards and everything else. What difference will this make?”

When I say speak against the grain, I mean speaking their own minds (like Ms. Council), those blacks who find liberal white guilt to be patronizing.

I will admit to not knowing exactly what being “progressive” means. But from reading this blog, throwing out thinly veiled accusations of racism, elitism, and homophobia seems to be part of it.

“The only way you can lump Colin Powell together with Condoleeza Rice, at least on the basis of their roles in this last administration, is to see them only as black and to forget everything else.” Thinly veiled accusation that I'm a racist. Predictable.

“you must admit you're engaging in the purest speculation” That's hilarious. What is it that they say, LOL?

“How Edith Wiggins fits into the Powell-Rice discussion, other than by virtue of the color of her skin.” Again, I read this blog. It doesn't take a genius to see that there are some white Chapel Hillians who think they are blacker than her. That's how she fits, because there apparently are white people who think they are blacker than Rice and Powell.

“Back in the real world, no one has offered the “Uncle Tom” defense except you.” [By the way, I haven't heard those terms used seriously, in actual conversation, in twenty years. Out of curiosity about language, can anyone vouch for their continued use outside the white community?] " http://papillonsartpalace.com/harrBy.htm

Inside the white community, http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/11/24... “there's the liberal radio talk-show host in Wisconsin who claims Condoleezza Rice isn't qualified to be secretary of state. In fact, says John Sylvester of WTDY-AM in Madison, she's better suited to having her image plastered on a bottle of maple syrup.” (Curious that that piece of media abuse didn't make it to this blog. Well, as I've learned from reading OP, the messenger is what's important, not the message.) The link doesn't seem to work. Search Sylvester Rice and the column will come up.

Here's another link http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0033/noel.php

Try these links for some different perspectives (http://www.blackcollegewire.org/voices “Calling All Coons, Aunt Jemimas and Uncle Toms.” http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/20579/

Google it yourself. There's lots more.

“The race card is a wild card, and it's pretty clear that virtually everyone feels free to play it when it suits their other interests. That fact should be the most offensive of all.”

Bingo.

To put it more succinctly--"the story" is that when the people on Airport Road protested the renaming of their road, for VERY SIMILAR reasons, they were labeled racist. On this very board--and in the newspaper. Or, more subtly, racist but not RECOGNIZING it in themselves.

When the renaming proposal was first reported in the Chapel Hill Herald my 16 y/o asked me if I thought "they would really change the name of Airport Road." I told him it was a done deal--because anyone who argued against the name change would be labelled a racist.In retrospect, I should thank everyone involved in the process. My kid has realized I'm brighter than he thought...

Duncan asked [By the way, I haven't heard those terms used seriously, in actual conversation, in twenty years. Out of curiosity about language, can anyone vouch for their continued use outside the white community?]

Personally, I can't vouch for their use in polite company in the last ten years. I don't know anyone who talks like that - especially in public.