Streets named for Confederate generals spark renewed calls for change in NC city
Streets named for a Confederate general and a KKK leader are among the latest flash points in a North Carolina city where three police officers were fired last month for making racist remarks.
There has been contention for years over some of Wilmington’s street names, including Robert E. Lee Drive and Bedford Forest Drive.
Now, there’s renewed conversation about changing the street names as protests continue following the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died May 25 when a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for about eight minutes. The officer, along with three others, were fired and face criminal charges.
The debate has reached Wilmington’s predominantly white Pine Valley neighborhood, where more than a dozen streets bear the names of people affiliated with the Confederacy and racism, the Port City Daily reported.
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Confederate general and then the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Lee was also a general.
“He does not honor our country, yet his display creates separation of the people and fear,” one person wrote of Lee in a change.org petition from last year that has gained traction in recent days. “I believe the street name is offensive and promotes violence to people of color.”
The petition also calls for replacing the road names with those of Black historical figures, providing the suggestions of “Harriet Tubman Drive and Nat Turner Lane.”
But some Facebook users seemed to be against the renewed push.
“People need to grow up,” one person wrote in a comment on the Port City Daily page. “Changing everything is ridiculous.”
Some residents don’t support the figures behind the street names but want to avoid the hassle of changing their driver’s license and other personal documents, Port City Daily reported.
“The main response from locals who live in the neighborhood is: [Northerners] don’t have to live here and they can move out if they don’t like the street names,” Amanda Boomershine told the newspaper. “Not everyone feels that way; some say it is time for change.”
The Pine Valley neighborhood surrounds a country club that opened in 1956, according to the Star News.
Mayor Bill Saffo said he doesn’t have a formal petition about the street names and said residents would have to ask for a change in a public process. The process would involve new addresses, which hasn’t sat well with everyone, according to the mayor.
“They would rather sometimes leave some of the names there,” he said. “But who knows what will happen in this environment that we find ourselves in?”
Brandon Carnine, an administrator of the Pine Valley neighborhood Facebook page, said he supports police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement. He said he would be in favor of changing street names if the process were free but envisions it could be expensive for people in the area to change documents.
“You would need 51% in favor to change the signs,” he wrote in a message to McClatchy News. “Do I think that every street will accomplish this, I don’t. Do I think a few will? I do.”
Last month, Wilmington fired three police officers accused of making racist remarks and temporarily relocated two Confederate statues that had stood downtown.
Saffo said he is working toward improving the quality of life in the city he’s always called home.
“The challenge that I have as a mayor is just to try to bring everybody together when you have these moments of passion and rhetoric that sometimes may be nasty,” Saffo said Wednesday in a phone interview.
History of contention
Wilmington, located near the coast, was recently named the 26th best small city in the country, receiving top scores for its restaurants and nightlife in a report from Resonance Consultancy.
But the city has grappled with racial unrest throughout the years.
During the Wilmington Massacre of 1898, white supremacists took control of the city’s government and a mob decimated a Black-owned newspaper office. Dozens of Black people died.
And in 1971, rioting broke out, leading to the wrongful convictions of 10 civil rights activists, nine of which were African American.
“What I see happening today is much more diverse than (the) 1970s or 1898,” Saffo said. “The number of protesters that are out there are large, but they’re very diverse. ... It’s a mixture of people that have come together to ask for reforms of police and ask for more social justice and equity.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Streets named for Confederate generals spark renewed calls for change in NC city."
