ARLINGTON -- Resistance to the Arlington NAACP's ongoing campaign to rename Division Street for Martin Luther King Jr. prompted the organization to host a community discussion on Juneteenth about improving race relations in the city.
The group, led by President Silk Littlejohn-Gamble, has petitioned city and state officials to rename the eight-mile stretch of state highway for the slain civil-rights leader.Some panelists at Tuesday night's forum said changing the street's name would help Arlington show that it is "progressive" and not racist. Others said minority communities would benefit more from increased representation on the predominantly white City Council and school board, which might be accomplished by switching to single-member districts."We can minimize racism. It starts with leadership," said panelist Luis Castillo, president of Arlington League of United Latin American Citizens."They need to embrace and celebrate diversity."Other panelists were Star-Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders, Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow, KHVN radio talk show host Robert Ashley, University of Texas at Arlington associate history professor Marvin Dulaney and Friends of Justice Executive Director Allen Bean.About 70 people attended the forum. Juneteenth is the annual observance of June 19, 1865 -- the day that Texas slaves learned that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.Littlejohn said the effort to rename the street is not just to recognize King but to help create unity."The campaign is about all of us coming together as humans, as one," she said.The panelists disagreed on the impact renaming Division would actually have.Ashley ridiculed Mayor Robert Cluck and other city leaders for their reluctance to embrace the street name change when so many other cities have already done so."It's difficult to get the king to compromise with the peasants when the king has always been the king," Ashley said. "It's a mind-set we are dealing with in Arlington -- the preservation of white supremacy."But Sanders said he doesn't care if another street is named for King as long as the civil rights leader's dream of racial equality remains unrealized."It's easy to appease by putting a name on something," said Sanders, who said he believed the NAACP would find more community support if it proposed naming a street for a local leader.Panelists noted that Arlington has made progress on racial issues but has much in its past to be embarrassed about.At one time, black students in Arlington were bused to Fort Worth to attend high school. UT Arlington flew a Confederate flag at its pep rallies until 1969.www.arlingtontexasnaacp.netSusan Schrock, 817-709-7578