Chanel Davis argues that High Point’s deep and troubling racial divide is precisely why it needs a Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, but that renaming Green Drive actually reinforces rather than heals the rift:
“Words like diversity and inclusion were thrown out at the meeting. For a city that is already sitting on 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 of 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, let’s be real, most white residents don’t travel down. A street that is rampant with a vast array of drugs, crime and winos. 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 city council voted 5-4 against renaming Green Street in King’s honor.
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