The proposal for a city street to be named in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has come before High Point City Council again.
And again it has been voted down.
The motion to change the name of Green Drive failed 5-4 at Monday night’s council meeting.
It is reported, by High Point Enterprise, that council members Jeff Golden, Foster Douglas, Jay Wagner and Mayor Bernita Sims voted in favor of the motion. Members Jim Davis, Jason Ewing, Britt Moore, Judy Mendenhall and Becky Smothers voted in against the motion.
Words like diversity and inclusion were thrown out at the meeting. For a city that is already sitting on a racial powder keg between a black mayor, two separate Easter Egg hunts thrown by the city at different locations with a large difference in demographics and an African American community that feels ignored at City Hall and other areas in the city, I think we do need a street named after Dr. King. Out of our surrounding cities, we are one of the few cities that do not have one.
However, I do not think that street should be Green Drive. A street where, lets be real, most white residents don’t travel down. A street that is rampant with a vast array of drugs, crime and whinos. A dilapidated, both physically, socially and economically, community that some have forgotten about and others don’t care about is not the background needed for a street named after Dr. King.
The late reverend and late civil rights leader died fighting for equality and waiting for the day that black and white would work together. We could at least name a street that is in a more diverse area for him instead of the “urban” areas in the city.
It is hard to tell a group of people that you want them here as long as they stay in the pigeon-holed area that you leave for them. It is even harder to do what’s best for those thousands of people who do not always hold the checkbook but definitely contribute to the bottom line.
I’m just saying.
I'm Just Saying.... 