University of North Carolina to remove Ku Klux Klan leader's name from building

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News /Reuters

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - A post-Civil War era Ku Klux Klan leader's name will be stripped from a campus building at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after a vote by the school's board of trustees on Thursday.

The board said university trustees had erred in 1920 when they cited alumnus William L. Saunders' role in the KKK, a white supremacist movement that arose after the 1865 defeat of the pro-slavery Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War, as a qualification for naming a classroom building in his honor.

Saunders was the Klan's chief organizer in North Carolina in 1869 and 1870. He also served as a Confederate colonel during the Civil War and secretary of state for North Carolina.

Students and alumni had petitioned trustees during the past year to rename the building. The board said Saunders Hall would now be called Carolina Hall "to reinforce the larger concept of community," according to a school statement.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/university-north-carolina-remove-ku-klux-klan-leaders-172040644.html

[alp227]

1. Warning: Comments section is AWFUL as always is at Yahoo. nt

[47of74]

2. I suppose reich wing heads are exploding all over the place now.

And may I say to said reich wingers;

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[mopinko]

4. hope and change.

irl

[Nye Bevan]

5. Should these places also be renamed?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_after_Robert_Byrd

[MADem]

7. Byrd repented and expressed shame at his affiliation.

If anything, he's an example of someone moving beyond hate. He came out of an environment where that kind of behavior was expected if not demanded, and he rejected the conduct and expressed remorse.

I mean, come on, everybody knows this--the only ones who ever tried to use that "Waah--Byrd-KKK" argument were right wingers on the ropes, when Byrd was waving the Constitution in their faces.

http://thegrio.com/2010/06/28/the-evolution-of-robert-byrds-racial-politics/

....And yet, Robert Byrd evolved—he changed for the good. He apologized for his intolerant past and declared that he had been wrong. Although he voted against Justice Marshall for the Supreme Court seat, years later he also voted with 45 other Democrats against the candidacy of conservative Clarence Thomas. Byrd did not like Thomas’s assertion that he was the victim of a “high-tech lynching of uppity blacks,” and found the introduction of race into the Senate proceedings offensive. Most of all, he believed Anita Hill’s allegations against Thomas. Hindsight is 20-20 for those who were misguided enough to support Clarence Thomas, but looking back nearly 20 years, the senator had a very good point.

Sen. Byrd displayed a mix of conservative and liberal points of view in his later years. Remarkably, though, his pyolitics resonated with the African-American community and came out on the right side of issues that are of concern to black voters. Byrd enjoyed a perfect 100 percent rating from the NAACP. He proposed $10 million to fund a Martin Luther King National Memorial in Washington, DC. The senator received a 67 percent rating from the American Civil Liberties Union, and a 65 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters on environmental issues. He forcefully and eloquently voiced his opposition to the war in Iraq under President George W. Bush, and voted against the confirmation of Obama’s controversial treasury secretary Timothy Geithner.

We should condemn the man’s racist past, but honor his recent accomplishments. And we should respect his ability and willingness to transform his mind and move beyond his circumstances and upbringing. Robert Byrd did not die as a leader of the Klan, because he had buried that racist past a long time ago. However, he did leave us as a leader for all Americans. So, let us give him a proper goodbye.

I gotta say, I find it really troubling that you'd even make any attempt at equivalence with regard to Saunders and Byrd. The arc of their lives was very different indeed. One died a hating racist, and the other did not.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Thank you for your comment. I always feel sick when someone tries that here.

They are announcing on the spot they are certainly not Democrats, and don't read or think a lot.

You were very patient.

[MADem]

20. It doesn't stop 'em, though.

That source I used isn't a "white-splaining" one either--but people with bias will double down as you can see. It apparently is easier than acknowledging that people can indeed change--everyone from anonymous people next door, to Presidential candidates, to public figures of all stripes. And there's no question that Robert Byrd changed. The clown that building was first named after, though? He lived and died an unrepentant racist.

Imagine how boring we'd be if we never grew or "progressed" throughout our lives? Imagine if "America, the land of Second Chances," became "America, Fuck Up Even ONCE and You're OUTTA Heah?"

[Nye Bevan]

16. He was using the n-word on TV as recently as 2001 (nt)

[LanternWaste]

18. I used to rationalize irrational positions too

I used to rationalize irrational positions too, and would often hide behind a lack of substance-- using NT is a great way to do so. I almost wish I also had thought of it when I pretended my petulant points were relevant...

[CTBlueboy]

12. Yes

I never understood the whitewashing of Byrd

Its like if Johnny Jihad , becoming a Senator and professing his regrets for being part of ISIS

Byrd was part of A terrorist organization which killed hundreds if not thousands , and I do not care how he became"liberal" in his later life.

Same goes for FBI Headquarters named after the most vile person J Edgar Hoover

[LanternWaste]

19. I imagine the communities make the choice... just as in the OP.

I imagine the communities make the choice... just as in the OP.

[MADem]

6. Yeah, they "erred" all right.

"Carolina Hall" is a lazy ass solution, though.

I think they should name it after THIS WOMAN.


Why?

--She was an educator.

She was BORN in North Carolina.

Her name on the building would remove some of the stink from the campus.

Gotta start somewhere.

[Laffy Kat]

8. +1000.

Except, of course, it makes way too much sense.

[MADem]

9. I guess, when they wanna stop going backwards, they have to

put it in neutral before they put it in gear to move forward!

[Laffy Kat]

10. But, ya know, it's such a great idea to honor Brown..

For anyone living in NC, it would be a great LTTE or opinion piece.

[MADem]

21. I'd love it if someone picked up the banner and ran with it! nt

[Art_from_Ark]

13. Cool

A very heart-warming biography.

[certainot]

11. a good start- but UNC also endorses 8 KKK/limbaugh radio stations

they can talk all they want about needing and wanting "to reinforce the larger concept of community,", but by broadcasting tarheels sports on those stations they are all in on the propaganda operation that blankets their communities with sexism. racism,homophobia and global warming denial, and anything else to pollute 'community".

and without that tarheels endorsement many of those stations would go belly up.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

17. Didn't they have a contract when that station changed programming format?

They use to be on that same station when it was rock, right?

[certainot]

23. don't know...

[Zight]

15. It's the right thing to do

I don't know why it was there in the first place.

[Caspian Morgan]

22. Hard to believe they let it stay up for so long.

In the south we still have a long way to go.