White Louisiana Residents Revolt Over Naming Street For MLK

[Capt. Obvious]

Last week, a local council in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish voted against changing an existing street name to Martin Luther King Boulevard, but not before a heated debate among its residents, seen in a video posted by Nola.com Monday.

The proposal to change the name of half-mile stretch of roadway in the parish’s predominantly black community Violet was first introduced by the local NAACP in March, according to WDSU News. Rev. Kevin Gabriel, president of the local NAACP chapter, told reporters at last Tuesday’s meeting that 28 of the 34 households on the street signed the petition in support of the changing the name from Colonial Boulevard to Martin Luther King Boulevard.

However, a number of white residents, many from other neighborhoods within the parish, showed up at the council meeting to protest the name change. Some said the name Colonial reflected the state's history as a colony of Spain.

“St. Bernard has an incredible history. Please do not change it,” said a white resident named Rachel Bazile.

Other white residents had more racially-charged reasons to oppose the name change:

“If you look around the world, every Martin Luther King Boulevard is crime-ridden and drug-ridden. Why the hell would we want that in this parish? All because a few people want it. The rest of us don’t,” said one white resident. “It’s absolutely ridiculous. Martin Luther King was a great man, and all the streets that are named after him does not reflect the content of that man’s character.”

....

Video at TPM

[NOLALady]

1. This is the same area

where they are trying to limit (exclude) Blacks from renting/buying homes.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2009/08/how_white_residents_are_keeping_blacks_out_of_st_bernard_parish.html

"In the wake of Katrina, St. Bernard officials instituted a “blood relative” ordinance that required a parish permit in order for a homeowner to rent a single-family residence to anyone who was not a relative. Court battles over that measure eventually led to more than $2 million in settlements against the parish.

In 2012, the U.S. Justice Department got involved, suing St. Bernard over allegations that for years the parish had violated the Fair Housing Act by attempting to limit rental opportunities for low-income and black residents. A year later, the parish settled that lawsuit for $2.5 million."

http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/12719735-123/from-utter-devastation-st-bernard

[NOLALady]

2. It's common knowledge

that many Black New Orleanians who could passe en blanc moved to that area.

Their descendants are protesting a name change for 6 blocks of a predominately Black neighborhood! SMDH

[cwydro]

3. Downtown Charlotte, NC has an MLK street.

Not a bad area, a quiet one with a park.

Downtown Wingate, NC is home to the Jesse Helms museum lol, right on the MLK highway. Also a nice area.

I chuckle every time I drive past. Jesse must be rolling.

There are MLK roads, streets, etc, throughout the south. Sorry to hear about these Louisiana folks, but perhaps they just want to keep their road name the same.

We have the same arguments here when they change a name. Omg, Billy Graham Parkway was extremely controversial.