More white guilt that does nothing for us (and we know it!!)
Mississippi will honor four martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement who died violent deaths as the victims of hate crimes.
Emmett Till, the 14-year-old who was beaten to death in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a White woman, and the three civil rights advocates who traveled to Mississippi to urge Blacks to vote in 1964 and were later found dead, will be remembered and honored by having highways in the state named for them. (more…)
Naming streets after civil rights icons is just as effective as removing confederate flags off of state capitols in my opinion.
For years we watched Negroes from all over the country in protest after protest demand that confederate flags come down. Breathless local news interviews captured blacks in anger telling millions in television-land about the horrific memories the confederate flag brings everytime they see it (as if we go into some state of shock and endless weeping everytime we see a confederate flag–this is especially bogus for those of us who have never lived in the segregated south). I’m not a famous guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know a lot of black folks of all ages, and I can tell you the confederate flag does as much harm to us today as a mosquito with no bite. Honestly, we just use the flag as a way to hold “guilty as charged” over white people.
This brings me to the trend of street-naming. Any black person will tell you that if you want to look for the worst street in the city, start with MLK Boulevard/Ave. So much for honoring those that sacrificed for us. I also heard someone in the past argue this point. According to them, it is the racist city planners that pick the worst street—once again “their” fault–not ours. If this is the case, they why is it so hard for us to clean it up?
***Someone did a whole documentary on exactly what I am saying here. I saw it on PBS sometime ago. Do a search on it, and if you can get it–please do. It was very good. (for the race-conscience among us, YES it was done by a black person)***
It is one thing for us to allow the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. to be rendered “old history” by naming streets after him, but to drag Emmett Till and the other civil rights workers into this false appeasement does nothing for us or future generations.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for naming landmarks after civil rights workers, former slaves, and blacks who contributed to this country, but by far the best way to remember their sacrifices is to #1- teach the full history about these people, #2. Continue where they left off in history. Just relying on a street named after them will do nothing.
March 24th, 2005 at 8:25 am
every race lighter than black had better attention, if white people succede in black
elemination ……….do you think for a minute that they will stop hateting? no! the hate
will transfer to the next lighter race.