In
keeping with the spirit of my current Atlanta blog and the holiday last Monday
this Find Out Friday I have explored the legacy Martin Luther King Jr. has left
behind in a brand new way, how the public has chosen to honor him all around
our country.
On
separate days I noticed that I have seen more than one street, road, and even
bridge named for the late reverend. The first street was in Staten Island, New
York and the bridge was in New Jersey. I began to wonder if I could find out
how many there were in total. I had always thought that when streets or
roadways were named for famous people they would be former residents or have
some significant ties to the region. But such is not always the case and when
it comes to Reverend King I found out way more than I bargained for.
As of
January 18, 2016:
“There are approximately 900
streets named after King in the United States, including in Puerto Rico,
according to research by Derek Alderman, head of the geography department at
the University of Tennessee. Cities began naming and renaming streets after
King immediately following his assassination in 1968.”
Nine
hundred!! Holy crap!!
Those
streets are found in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York,
North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Wisconsin, and
Wyoming.
Many of
these roads exist outside of the United States in places such as Italy and Israel.
Blogger
Chris Allen has discovered that “according to Google Maps, 58 out of the
100 most populous cities have a road named after Martin Luther King.”
Journalist
Adele Peters is one of many who have written pieces exploring what life is like
of the streets named for this peaceful leader. This issue is VERY common when
streets named after King are discussed.
Peters
found that:
“If you live on or near one
of the nearly 900 streets in the U.S. named after Martin Luther King, Jr.,
you're more likely to be poor, and you're more likely to be black. And some
might argue that your street serves more as a symbol of inequality than of
progress made since King's death.”
This
paradox is maddening. Apparently a lot of people agree. There are now many groups
forming in some of these communities to restore the name, so to speak, in such
neighborhoods.
There is
a strong sociological and culture link between a street named for an African
American hero and those whose lives are struggling living there.
As Alderman
also said:
“It’s a bitter irony; we’re
commemorating a man who battled against segregation by segregating his memory”.
I hope
that these statistics are a thing of the past and that these community groups
are able to do good works. Not just because it is important for all members of
society to thrive but especially because those living on the streets named
after King should be honoring him by leading successful lives helping others as
would have made him proud.
As for my
progress along my personal MLK Jr. journey, I still need to visit the historic
counties of Selma and Birmingham in Alabama as well as his memorial in
Washington D.C. to feel complete.
Prior to
today I had thought was well acquainted with this man, especially since
spending time in his old stomping grounds in the Sweet Auburn District of
Atlanta (http://bit.ly/2kzJzxb). However it
turns out my education was just beginning.
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