Item

Petition to Change a Park's Name During the Pandemic

Title (Dublin Core)

Petition to Change a Park's Name During the Pandemic

Description (Dublin Core)

Even though the pandemic still lingers, the world is pressing on to combat other issues. The recent protests have reawoken the subject of racism in America. I believe the pandemic has afforded us with a unique situation where the nation has more time to discuss this issue at large. Plus, a lot more people have participated in those protests because they are either working from home or have lost their jobs, unfortunately.

With all this additional time, people have sought to make changes to promote a more welcoming environment for the black community in many towns and cities. Thousands of residents in Wilmington, NC, have already begun a petition to make such a change. One of the city's most popular parks was named after Hugh MacRae. This man co-lead the plan to overthrow Wilmington's local government. While doing this, his group also demolished a black-owned newspaper office and killed/injured many African Americans. This event became notoriously known as the 1898 Wilmington Massacre. Over 8,000 people have already signed a petition to change the park's name.

An interview by WECT News I watched today really struck me. The woman, who was a peaceful protester, had been asked why she thought changing the name of the park was necessary. She told the news anchor that "'I grew up there, I had birthday parties there, and it was always a terrible reminder of the history of Wilmington and having that park, a public park be named after somebody of such vile reputation is shocking and it’s a shame that although Wilmington acknowledged its history it does not do more and be more proactive to make a change.'" The legacy that this man and his mob caused has continued to negatively affect the black community in Wilmington. Renaming that park could lead to a reconciliation of the past in the present day. The reintroduction of the issue of racism and Black Lives Matter might not have been as impactful as it was if the pandemic had not occurred in the first place. Having people at home watching TV (especially the news), helped garnered the attention it needed to begin the movement again.
Wilmington, Black-Lives-Matter, Petition, Park

Date (Dublin Core)

June 10, 2020

Creator (Dublin Core)

Matt Bennett

Type (Dublin Core)

article

Link (Bibliographic Ontology)

Publisher (Dublin Core)

WWAY News

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Architecture & Planning
English Community & Community Organizations
English Environment & Landscape
English Conflict
English Government Local

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

Black Lives Matter
petition
African American
racism
North Carolina
monument

Collection (Dublin Core)

Social Justice
Black Voices
Environment

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

06/12/2020

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

06/19/2020
05/09/2022

Date Created (Dublin Core)

06/10/2020

Item sets

This item was submitted on June 12, 2020 by [anonymous user] using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: http://mail.covid-19archive.org/s/archive

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