Confederate Name Wiped Away Just as World's Eyes Turn to Little Rock

[Tab]

ttle Rock (AP) - The city of Little Rock has erased "Confederate Boulevard'' from interstate highway signs. Replacing the signs are exit markers leading motorists to a road that honors a black community leader.

Confederate Boulevard still runs north from Interstate 440 near the Little Rock Airport, but signs for Exit One now tout "Springer Boulevard,'' which runs south from I-440 and honors Horace Springer, who lived in the area.

The Confederate Boulevard signs had been the first landmarks many saw after landing at the city's airport. They were changed as Little Rock welcomed presidents, dignitaries and celebrities for the opening of Bill Clinton's presidential library.

Mayor Jim Dailey says the Confederate Boulevard signs were "bothersome'' and that the city is continuing to try to, "dispel those things that divide us.''
http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1104/190877.html

As opposed to Crawford, TX, where they've renamed the slum's alley "Liberal Lane"

[lightbulb]

1. Reminds me of a few years back

When San Francisco changed Army St. to Ceasar Chavez St. The old folks are still moaning about it. I can imagine some Little Rock residents are less than pleased with this insult to their "heritage".

[Yupster]

2. We just changed the Confederate Airforce museum

to the Commemorative Airforce museum a few years ago.

edit to add link

http://www.commemorativeairforce.com/

and another edit to add a link showing the old name

http://community.webshots.com/album/38043866GrcLpz

[Sporadicus]

3. There's a 'Hitler Street' in Kimmel, Indiana

I lived in a town about 20 miles from this little burg.

http://image.maps.yahoo.com/mapimage?MAPData=HjkhRfhyzy2Y_NgODA68iYhvEx6SFuKGCI1dWRLN_m.6xvgQMxdv.7sKNkjcUG5B.CjYByEt0IFffOCQhPPyTKzIhy8uLFptwZAWbCNkGuqcl3MxLVhJwD1p6ASiJ.NSTA--

[Anakin Skywalker]

5. If You Hadn't Enclosed the Pic...

I never would have believed you!

[hughee99]

10. Is it named for Adolf?

Or someone else who was unfortunate enough to share the same last name?

[Sporadicus]

16. From What I've Heard, It Predates the German Dictator

but what prevented the good people of Kimmel from changing the name during his rise to power...or during WW II? :shrug:

[hughee99]

33. I guess it would depend on who "Hitler" was.

It would be a real pain in the ass if someone named "Washington" were to turn into a Hitler type person. Would we rename everything after someone else? Even worse, what if the person's name was "Main"? Think of how many street signs you'd have to replace then. You would think they would have renamed the street during WWII though, but I guess you probably had to be there at the time to really know the story.

[happyslug]

17. I always remember the story of Master Sargent Adolf Hitler of WWII.

When asked why did he not changed his name, he replied "The other guy can change HIS name".

Adolf was a common German name well before Adolf Hitler. It is a name still used in many families. Hitler is a family name with a long history both in Austria and Germany Proper. In fact Hitler's father adopted the name to secure an inheritance, Hitler's Father's name was originally Schicklgruber but was changed to Hitler when he was an adult.

One version of Hitler's father's name change (Without the comment on Inheritance):
http://www.thirdreichpages.com/familybackground.htm

Another version (Which claims the inheritance story was false, but repeats the inheritance story nonetheless):
http://www.smoter.com/hitlerna.htm

Some more on Hitler's background (including a note on a Jew named "Adolf Hitler":
http://www.geocities.com/bmanuel42/aheyc1.pdf

Another version on Hitler's early Life:
http://www.abelard.org/hitler/hitler.htm

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. liberal lane?

seriously?

Like, the street was called Slum's Alley before?

[Tab]

15. No...

I was being silly about that part. Though I wouldn't put it past them.

Just before the election I saw a car with a bumper sticker that said "Liberals: America's Cancer"

Given that they want Reagan memorials in every state of the union, and that the House of Reps can rename French Fries to "Freedom" Fries, I wouldn't be surprised if some right-wing town somewhere came up with a "Liberal Lane", but no, it was a joke.. doesn't exist... yet.

[AlFrankenFan]

6. no comment

If I say anything someone will shoot me.

[Anakin Skywalker]

And Somewhere in the US South....

some rednecks are crying for yet another blow to their "moral values". LOL! This is rich!

[Anakin Skywalker]

7. Double Post.

Sorry.

[goforit]

8. Progress in a spiraling backwards country?......

How profound!!!


Hats off to Horace Springer and ARKANSAS!!!!

[w4rma]

9. Dumb. These actions can be interpreted as erasing Confederate history.

Replacing a street sign with a non-Confederate Army name, without doing something in return for those who support remembering Confederate history only serves to divide America. This is a total waste of political capital and it is nothing but symbolic. Why would anyone waste so much political capital on stupid symbolic, non-substantial changes.

[jmcgowanjm]

14. What do you think of flags, w4rma

so much political capital on stupid symbolic, non-substantial changes.

And BTW, what do you think of this:


I'm curious, thank you,
James

[Igel]

19. I don't get it.

The Crest of Galicia (ok, Galician Land).

I assume that's W. Ukraine?

[w4rma]

31. I reread the article and I agree. These signs should have been changed

Confederate Ave? That's not historical. At least the new names will be honoring someone who did something good rather than just being named after the losing side of a bad war.

[sandnsea]

18. You think it was always named Confederate Blvd?

You think there was an airport there since the Civil War?

And exactly WHAT Confederate history? The history of African-Americans who are the real Americans who built the south? Or the history of biblical extremists who justified their use of slaves by promoting themselves as intellectual elites seeking a higher calling?

This southern confederate crap needs to go. If they don't want to join the United States, then get the hell out. Red state welfare, I'm sick to death of it.

[jmcgowanjm]

20. That's right. Confederate Blvd went thru the Ghetto of LR

The Federal Cemetary in Fayetteville
is located next to the livestock Sale Barn.

The Confederate Cemetary is on a hill
right up from a low income housing project.

I'm sayng symbols are everything. they're
history in a snapshot.

And we're moving to local regions rapidly
which is what that symbol I posted rep'd-
Western Ukraine-Halic(Galicia), Kief(Kiev).

Millions of people died for that symbol.

Millions will die for others.

[Joy Anne]

21. And, of course,

The western Ukraine (Lwow, etc.) is really Poland. My late husband's family was ethnically cleansed out of there at the end of World War II.

[sandnsea]

24. Springer Blvd

Name changed in the 70's. The National Cemetery, with the dead from all wars, on the other part of the road, named Confederate Blvd. It's an insult to this country and has nothing to do with some bizarre notion of southern pride. Again, if the south wants to celebrate its southern history, start with the fact that it was built on the backs of African Americans.

[jmcgowanjm]

26. Ok

Symbols are seen in every act of faith. They live and die but
only after a historical catastrophe which greatly alters a
people's perception of self and their destiny. The death
of existing symbols constitutes devastating events no
less important than the phenomena that give them birth
and shape. Symbols cannot be invented at will or
intentionally produced by committees like business logos.
They grow out of the collective consciousness of a people
and have to be accepted by the subconscious dimension of
their being. Their majesty and power lies in their
symbolic character, not in any utilitarian value they
might possess.

http://www.sikh.net/publications/View/symbols.htm

And the reason I think that Ohio was stolen, was that
the Election of 2004 resembled so much the
Free/Slave state map. And Ohio would
never have the same values as the Slave states.
BTW-Just like the BlueCollarMiddleClass will not
have Volvos/CountryClubs/College degees, the vast
majority of whites circa1860 would not have slaves,
and yet voted/fought like they did.

[sandnsea]

28. These were created

The Confederate Flag symbols were added to southern state flags in the 50's to fight integration. Much of the current southern pride hoopla was a political strategy, intentionally created.

Southern heritage, hospitality, charm, manners, etc.; that's real. This confederate garbage is just that, manufactured political garbage.

It's time we stopped letting extremists get away with confusing the two.

[jmcgowanjm]

29. I'm w/ you. Good Luck and may the Force be w/ us

[Boosterman]

11. See one of the things people have done is

manage to turn the argument around. Many southerners consider the civil war to be a states rights issue.

[Rush1184]

22. It was...

It was not about slavery originally. At least that is what I understand.

[Rush1184]

23. p.s.

I am not a southerner in any way, shape or form, born up north, and living in europe.

[theHandpuppet]

12. The scariest place I've ever been...

... was Fredericksburg, VA, where it seems the so-called glory of the confederacy lives on. I've never seen so many stars and bars flags, decals, bumper stickers (including ones about shooting Yankees), monuments... and all the streets are named after Confederate "heroes". After nervously navigating my way through a maze of streets named after Confederate generals and finding one named "Forrest" -- which I assumed was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, founder of the KKK, all I wanted to do was GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!! Unfortunately, on the road out of town I had to pass a huge gun shop and shooting range (situated right next to the highway!) where the gunfire was going off at such rapidity you'd have thought you were in Fallujah. Never again, folks, never again!

[Democracy Died 2004]

13. You mean Frednecksburg? eom

[MileHiStealth]

25. Everyone takes issue with the whole "confederate"thing ...

but what about the fact that our whole country
is built on the graves of slaughtered Native
Americans ?

[jmcgowanjm]

27. Yes

Just as Harlan said, the end of the war left the Five
Civilized Tribes in a pitiable plight. The homes of the people
of the Cherokee and Creek Nations had been destroyed by
the bitter factions, and domestic difficulties as well as
those concerning relations with the United States
government arose. In September, 1865, the first peace
council after war was held at Fort Smith, Arkansas, with
a number of tribes represented. The government tribal
agents made four demands upon the Five Civilized Tribes, to
all of which they were forced to accede: (1) they had to give
up the surplus or unused lands of each nation to be opened
for settlement by the tribes of Kansas or elsewhere; (2) they
had to give full tribal rights and citizenship to the negroes
who had been their slaves; (3) they had to
guarantee rights-of-way for the construction of one east-
west and one north-south railroad across the territory; and
(4) they had to submit to a measure giving Congress power
to establish a territorial government with an intertribal
legislative council.

Naturally the tribes were bitterly opposed to these
con-
ditions; the various factions within each tribe grew so hostile
that the council was adjourned to convene in Washington
the following spring. In that city the Creek and Seminole
tribes acceded willingly to all four demands, receiving
the negroes into their tribes with a proportionate interest in
all lands and tribal funds. Their reservations were
greatly reduced in size. The Choctaw and Chickasaw
tribes opposed tribal rights for negroes and finally succeeded
in limiting their land interest and giving them no share of
tribal funds. As usual, the Cherokees were the last to give in,
and did not sign a new treaty for many months. With
the perspective afforded by more than half a century,
there seems to be little doubt that the United States was
using the Indians' alliance with the South as an excuse for
slowly but surely taking all their lands and tribal rights
from them.

http://www.keetoowah-society.org/cunningham.htm

[Ima]

30. Well

I see the name change as a small but positive thing.

[Rapcw]

32. High Eagle

In a rather expensive area to live in in the Bay Area of California I remember that there used to be a street named Gay St. It was about 1 or 2 years ago I believe that they changed it to High Eagle St. I think that it was a rather silly thing to do, but I guess some people just don't understand that gay is used in others ways then just describing someone's sexual orientation. I also like how they changed the name of the street to High Eagle. I'm sure no one questions the patriotism of people living on a street called High Eagle.:eyes:


*edit* corrected some spelling errors