Denise McNair, 11, and fourteen year olds, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley died 50 years ago this Sunday when members of the KKK dynamited the black Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. The murders shocked the country then and have now prompted Congress to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the family members of these civil rights icons this week at Statuary Hall in the Capitol rotunda in Washington D.C. "These lives were far too short," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "And it is when we realize life is short that we focus on what matters and on who matters. It is why we retreat from the noise to celebrate four young women whose story should be told and re-told." Congress and House Speaker Boehner have belatedly done the RIGHT thing in conferring this honor but here is what a constituent of the Speaker was writing in the Piqua Daily Call on 3/4/2006: Doing the RIGHT thing I applaud the recent action of the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, representing the Bush administration, in recognizing the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church of Birmingham as a national landmark. Four young black girls were killed there in 1963 by American terrorists determined to deny a whole group of freedom loving Christian brothers and sisters “the right to protest for right”(King). Alberto Gonzales remarked that the act of recognition was “a catalyst for the cause of justice” and in referencing the children that were killed at the church he said “we protect this place for them”. Finally, in regards to continuing acts of church violence, the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal Government in fighting discrimination and promoting justice emphasized “there is still work to be done”. This writer has long advocated that kind of action as being the right thing to do. I classify this kind of recognition, in protecting and/or awarding a place of honor in the public domain as an extension of ownership identity, and I have connected it to what I call, the RIGHT initiative. RIGHT is an acronym for Recognizing Individual Greatness in Historical Testament. This concept embodies the concern over the historical bias in naming patterns and the contemporary artificial barriers limiting the expansion of ownership identity of public properties to the wealthiest among us, and thus further imposing class and cultural limitations upon those individuals belonging to groups that have traditionally been denied consideration. RIGHT seeks to re-evaluate the standards of heroism and societal acceptance of those who may have been deemed not to be valued or worthy of having their names adorn public places and facilities. RIGHT advocates a proactive effort in naming public properties that is more reflective of the diversity within the community and that acknowledges from a historical perspective the merit of greater inclusion with regards to race, gender, and ethnic origin in expanding ownership identity. In the past a largely singular cultural identity and gender has been given a place of privilege in prominently naming our streets, schools, municipal, county, state and federal government buildings, monuments, parks, public sports complexes and other public properties. Cronyism, elitism, and political influence also have paved the way in the process that leads to public ownership identity. Today, however there is a glaring encroachment in public ownership identity by corporations that are able to successfully market and advertise their names without closer scrutiny in determining whether or not businesses are socially responsible and have good corporate citizenship. Too often its been all about the Benjamins and scandal has tainted the identity of public sports facilities such as Enron Field in Houston. It cost the Houston Astro’s millions to undo the deal and find Minute Maid as the new stadium sponsor buying their ownership identity in that Texas city. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not at all opposed to corporate involvement and the relief that they can bring to taxpayers, but proving social responsibility and good corporate citizenship can be a tricky proposition. Our own Alexander Stadium and Purk Field seems to be a good model for our local community but even here we need to change the focus and shift our consideration of who or what is worthy of our future ownership identity. Somewhere I have read that the best definition or explanation of the greatest among us ought to be associated with a personal level of sacrifice and selfless service to others. These are the very people who don’t market their efforts and would never advertise their sacrifices but it just seems to me that a Mother Teresa or a Rosa Parks are the kind of individuals that ought to receive more of our consideration in ownership identity. Some levels of government have no formalized naming process and this kind of decision making is too often concentrated in the hands of a few and make undue influence or quid pro quo arrangements more likely. RIGHT Committees should be developed by local government units to serve as advisory boards, or formed from concerned residents by way of a grassroots initiative to help monitor the naming process in awarding ownership identity. RIGHT Committees could cut through a maze of artificial barriers that dwarted the goals of the RIGHT concept by considering dual name designation of streets, by tying the sale of communal property to ownership identity consideration and by monitoring the compliance of governmental units to the goals of the RIGHT concept. RIGHT Committees would invite a wider level of community involvement in helping to develop a policy for naming public properties that makes an honest and good faith effort to be more reflective of diversity within the community. Let’s do the RIGHT thing!
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 10:47:10 +0000
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