The Rename Game

The South Orange-Maplewood school district, representing those two towns in Essex County, New Jersey, decided to rename an elementary school named for Thomas Jefferson because, well, he was a slaveowner who once wrote that all men were created equal.  The district had a problem with that, and so did the students.  

Instead, the school will be named for a black woman, local heroine Delia Bolden (above), the first black woman to graduate from the district's Columbia High School in 1912.

At first, I thought this was more PC woke-ism run amok.  Then, I realized it was probably a good idea.  There are likely hundreds of thousands of schools named for Thomas Jefferson, including one in the Caldwell-West Caldwell school district, also in Essex County.  So why not name this school for someone relevant to the community? (Every school in the Caldwell-West Caldwell district except two is named for a dead President, including the Grover Cleveland Middle School, which is appropriate - Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell.  I can tell you that, given that Caldwell and West Caldwell are hot beds of New Jersey Republicanism, the district will not be changing any school names in the interest of "diversity" - least of all the elementary school named for Thomas Jefferson.) 

I started thinking of other buildings, bridges, streets and other public entities that should be renamed.  And here are just a few of the things I think are long overdue for a name change.  This will probably not be the only post to make such suggestions; I've talked about name changes before, and I know I'll come up with others after this post is published.

Among the name changes I want to see are:

Balbo Drive, Chicago, Illinois.  Italian aviator Italo Balbo has a place in Chicago history; he flew from Rome to Chicago solo, at a time when such a flight was considered dangerous.  But, as a follower of Benito Mussolini, he espoused fascism, and so do many Trump supporters - as did the American Nazi Party when it tried to schedule a march in the heavily Jewish Chicago suburb if Skokie in the 1970s.  As I wrote back in 2017, Balbo has a street in Chicago named for him largely because he had the luck of flying there from Rome and getting to Chicago in one piece. 

Lindbergh Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Lindbergh Boulevard in Philadelphia isn't the only thoroughfare named for Charles Lindbergh, but it's one of the longest, and it looks like an actual boulevard - local and express lanes with three medians, one down the middle and two on either side.  But, like Balbo, Lindbergh was also a fascist sympathizer - what's up with aviators embracing fascism? - and he fathered children with a German woman he hid knowledge of from his wife and everyone else.  Sure, he was the first person to fly across the Atlantic in a plane by himself, in 1927, but John Alcock and Arthur Brown did it together eight years earlier.  Why don't they get any credit - because they were British? 

Betsy Ross Bridge, connecting Philadelphia to Burlington County, New Jersey.  While most of the Delaware River bridges are named for either famous men or the points they connect, the Betsy Ross Bridge is named for a woman, perhaps the most famous woman in the history of the American Revolution after Abigail Adams.  But Ross's accomplishment - sewing the first American flag - is a fraud.  No one really knows who sewed the first American flag.  But we do know who designed it - Francis Hopkinson, who presented the design to the Continental Congress in 1777 and actually lived in Burlington County, New Jersey.  This bridge should be named the Francis Hopkinson Bridge in his honor.   

Burlington-Bristol Bridge, between Burlington, New Jersey and Bristol, Pennsylvania.  Of course, if feminists would rather rename the Betsy Ross Bridge after suffragist and feminist Alice Paul - another historical figure associated with Burlington County - name the Bristol-Burlington Bridge, which is just upstream, for Hopkinson.  No one will miss the name identifying the connected towns.

Marcus Garvey Memorial Park, New York City.  This is going to get me in trouble, I know, because Marcus Garvey is a black icon, and this park is in Harlem.  Garvey was an Jamaican immigrant who founded black nationalist movement an spoke out against the colonization of Africa.  However, he also committed mail fraud against black Americans for selling stock in a ship he did not own and was eventually deported back to Jamaica.   He was also known for his violent rhetoric and his prejudice against mixed-race people and Jews. How can you name a park for someone like that?  Besides, Harlem is more integrated these days. Change it back to Mount Morris Park, that's what that big hill in the middle of the park is called.

Douglas Park, Chicago, Illinois.  As I said once before, in 2017, no public space should be named for Stephen Douglas, whose policies allowed for the expansion of slavery.  Put a second "s" at the end of the name and rename it for Frederick Douglass.

Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma Alabama.  Honestly?  An iconic civil rights shrine is still named for a Confederate general? The state of Alabama currently plans to alter the name to the "Edmund W. Pettus-Foot Soldiers Bridge," but any name that includes Pettus' surname is unacceptable.  How about the John Lewis Bridge, after the most famous foot soldier of them all in the civil rights movement?

Strom Thurmond Dam and Strom Thurmond Lake, South Carolina-Georgia border.  Do I have to explain why to you?

Black Lives Matter Plaza, Washington, D.C.  Black Lives Matter is not a name.  It's a slogan.  A good slogan, but a slogan just the same.  Since George Floyd's untimely murder inspired the creation of this public space, it should be called the George Floyd Plaza.

Robert Moses State Park and Robert Moses Causeway, Long Island, New York.  Given that Moses was a bigot whose highway projects in New York City upended neighborhoods and destroyed places like the South Bronx, this park should have its named changed back to Fire Island State Park (it's on the western tip of Fire Island, but there is no vehicular access to the gay-dominated towns on the other end of the island) and the causeway leading to it should have its name changed back to the Captree Causeway.  Besides, there's another park named for Moses in the Thousand Islands region along the St. Lawrence River upstate. 

Robert Moses State Park, Massena, New York.  On second thought, rename that as well.

Donald J. Trump State Park, Putnam Valley, New York.  I wish I were making this up, but in fact, this is land Trump bought to build a golf course on, but when he couldn't get the permits to build it, he donated it to the State of New York and wrote it off on his taxes after inflating its value.  The park has never been properly kept up or even developed, and attempts to rename it have been unsuccessful.  Until it is renamed and redeemed, it's a great place to go and do your personal business. 😉

Francis Scott Key Bridge, Baltimore, Maryland.  Key wrote the national anthem, which glorifies war and features an obscure verse praising slavery.  How about name it for a more deserving Marylander . . . maybe, the Martin O'Malley Bridge? 😃 

Times Square, New York City.  The first example of corporate naming rights.  Screw the New York Times - change the name back to Longacre Square.  Rename every stadium and arena after something other than corporations as well.  Okay, leave Ford Field in Detroit and Coors Field in Denver alone, those are actual family names, like the Wrigleys.  But whoever came up with the name KFC Yum! Center for the arena in Louisville, Kentucky ought to be imprisoned for life.  

Bismarck, North Dakota.  Why is one of our state capitals named for a German dictator?   

Quite a long list, and I've only scratched the surface.  I'll write another post suggesting name changes sometime later - particularly with regards to numbered streets!  

(P.S.  Also, lettered streets.  Mail to I Street in Washington, D.C., in fact, is often addressed to "Eye Street," so confusion with First (1st) Street is avoided.  Leg Avenue or Foot Road, anyone? 😃)