Black People : FAMOUS NAMES ON GHETTO STREETS...

[Isaiah]

African folks, gotta bounce for the weekend, but I wanted to put this thought out there for everyone's opinion...

I sometimes feel a sense of shame about putting Marcus Garvey, Malcolm's, and Adam Clayton Powell's names on some of the ugly streets in our neighborhoods... Martin Luther King Blvd in most African communities doesn't reflect the greatness and grandeur of the man... It is like a major smack in the face of all the great Africans who gave their lives for a bunch of chronic ghettoites who just don't care...

Know I will receive some flack, but that is how I feel... Don't name no MO' failing ghetto school houses after my heroes... Carter G. Woodson elementary school where all the miseducated negroes are in special ed... Shameful@!

Peace!
Isaiah

 

[$$RICH$$]

I feel you here like MLK blvd runs through the ghetto run down hoods
but i have to say Malcolm-X-College 1900 W. Van buren hold top flight students
Teachers and programs or the Carver high school or park name after F. Douglass
where high crime take place so i know what you mean by using great names .

 

[Queenie]

You know Brother Isaiah, I never looked at it this way. What you expressed makes sense but if not there, then my fear is the leaders whose names grace these streets and schools will be lost forever. Maybe a better approach would be to hold the administrators of these schools and parents whose children attend these schools to a different set of expectations. The educational component can and should extend BEYOND the name on the street or the building.

Maybe it's not so important what you call it , but more about what we know about these leaders, what they stood for and against, and the communities that support them actually demonstrating a healthy respect for their messages through daily living. We have to find a way to take the good from the past and make it real for us today. Marcus, Malcolm and Martin did their living and now it's up to us to demonstrate how we do ours.

Queenie

 

[KWABENA]

DELETED BY AUTHOR

 

[CarrieMonet]

Although part of Martin Luther King Way here in Seattle is a little run down (currently being remodeled), most of it is in nice areas. The Douglas Truth Library has been kept up and is slated to be remodeled soon. The Medgar Evers Swimming Center could use a little updating, but it's still not run down. Langston Hughes Theatre could be bigger...but it's still a nice arts center...

I do agree with the overall concensus though...whenever I visit a city out of state, Martin Luther King streets are generally in black run down neighborhoods.