news
memphis may Finally Name City street after king
By adrian Sainz
the associated press
MeMphiS, Tenn. (AP) — In the more
than four decades since the Rev. Martin
Luther King was assassinated on the bal-
cony of Memphis’ Lorraine Motel, about
900 U.S. cities have named local streets for
him. Memphis is not one of them, though
there is a stretch of interstate bearing his
name.
Now Memphis officials will consider a
naming a key downtown street for the civil
rights icon after years of inaction that some
say reflects a sense of shame and denial in
the city where he was cut down.
The proposal to rename nine blocks of
Linden Avenue to Dr. Martin Luther King
Avenue is expected to pass Thursday when
it comes before the Memphis and Shelby
County Land Use Control Board. As of
Tuesday, the board hadn’t received any
comments opposing the honor for King,
who was killed by assassin James Earl Ray
on April 4, 1968.
Berlin Boyd, a former city councilman,
came up with the proposal earlier this year
while still in office and it easily passed. He
predicts it will pass the land use board, with
a naming ceremony expected to take place
on April 4. The board has final say unless an
appeal is filed within 10 days.
The street re-naming is being seen by
many Memphians as a symbol that the city
is taking steps to heal the wound caused by
the assassination.
“”It was something that had a place in my
heart for some time,” Boyd told The
Associated Press. “Here is a city where
Martin Luther King’s blood cries from the
streets, and we don’t have anything to pay
tribute to him.”
King came to Memphis to support a sani-
tation workers strike in 1968 in what
became his final act as a civil rights leader.
The National Civil Rights Museum is built
at the site of the former Lorraine Motel,
where King stayed while supporting the
sanitation workers. A wreath marks the spot
on the balcony where King was shot.
The Rev. James Netters, who marched
with King and the sanitation workers as a
city councilman, said he proposed naming a
street for King in the early 1970s, but the
City Council voted to dedicate a stretch of
Interstate 240 to him instead.
Supporters say renaming Linden Avenue
for King is more significant than the dedi-
cation of the interstate because the avenue is
in the heart of the city’s downtown and res-
idents will have to use the avenue’s name to
give directions.
Netters, 84, said he does not know why
another proposal did not appear before now,
a sentiment echoed by many others.
“Memphis can’t do enough,” Netters said.
“Any honor that we dedicate to him is very,
very critical.”
Kenneth Whalum, a school board member
and Memphis native who was 12 years old
when King was killed, said no street has
been named after King because Memphis
has been in a state of denial and depression
over the assassination.
“Just as when you lose any loved one, you
get depressed,” Whalum said. “For the last
43 years we’ve hoped that the incident did-
n’t happen. We wished it would disappear
and go away.”
Boyd chose Linden Avenue because he
saw a sign with the street’s name in a photo
taken of a rally led by King. The avenue
runs in front of the Clayborn Temple -
where King rallied with members of the
civil rights movement - and the
FedExForum, the arena where the NBA’s
Memphis Grizzlies play their home games.
It runs parallel to Beale Street, the famous
‘Memphis can’t do
enough. Any honor
that we dedicate to
him is very, very
critical’
Memphis tourist drag, and is near the
offices of the local chapter of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, the union that King came to
Memphis to defend.
One of the advantages of choosing Linden
Avenue is that no businesses will have to
change their address with the name change,
according to the land use board’s report on
the street re-naming.
The report, which recommends approval,
notes that Linden Avenue is not named after
a real person, so no one will be offended
that their family name is being stripped
from the downtown avenue. The name hon-
ors Under the Linden Trees Boulevard, over
which the Brandenburg Gate was built in
Berlin, Germany.
Should the proposal pass, Memphis
would be added to the long list of cities,
both big and small, that honor King with a
street name. About 75 percent of the rough-
ly 900 cities are found in 10 Southern states,
with Georgia leading the way, said Derek
Alderman, an East Carolina University
geography professor who penned a 2006
study, “Naming Streets for Martin Luther
King Jr.: No Easy Road.”
Next in line are Texas, Mississippi,
Florida, Louisiana and Alabama.
Alderman says cities have endured heated
debates over naming streets after King: A
common dispute centers on whether to
select a street that is in a predominantly
black neighborhood, or one that cuts across
racial boundaries and “embodies the mes-
sage that King was preaching when he was
alive.”
Boyd said acknowledging King with his
own street may be a symbol that Memphis
is making strides in eliminating racial ten-
sions and is finally dealing with King’s
death.
“We have to start embracing the heritage
of our city,” Boyd said. “Until we under-
stand who we are as a city, we will always
be left behind.”
Working
together to
keep the
dream alive
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Regional Council of
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Conditions.
page 8 The Seattle Skanner January 11, 2012