Name change is necessary
Switch to Jersey St. correct move for city
We’re only a few weeks away from the one-year anniversary of the Adam Jones name-calling incident at Fenway Park.
If you thought the echoes of that horrific episode had faded to silence and forgetfulness, today’s vote on the Yawkey Way name change could wake us all back up to the ugly side of the never-ending conversation about race in Boston.
That fate can be avoided. Hopefully, the Public Improvement Commission this morning will consider all of the passionate testimony it heard during its past two hearings on the issue, review the petition signed by the Red Sox and the two other abutters along Yawkey Way, think about the valid reasons for why this is so important to the Red Sox and vote to approve the name change back to Jersey Street.
That decision moves the City of Boston forward.
That decision serves the best interests of the City of Boston, the Red Sox and, yes, even the Yawkey Foundation.
That decision will show the entire City of Boston, as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, New England and the rest of our nation that the powers that be in this city listened to all sides of the passionate debate sparked by this seemingly simple street name change and decided to do what’s best for the city rather than a special interest group.
Because if the PIC votes no on this petition, the fallout is going to be swift and severe enough to make the Jones incident look like a piffle.
Imagine the reaction a “no” vote would generate: Boston busing, Ted Landsmark, Charles Stuart, Jones . . . and a city in 2018 that couldn’t get out of its own way and own tortured history with race when it had this chance.
Surely by now the PIC realizes that the vast majority of those who spoke out against the name change were beneficiaries of the generous donations of the Yawkey Foundation, one of the most important and largest donors in the city, state and region. It makes sense that the Yawkey Foundation is concerned that stripping their original donor’s name off the street where the Red Sox do business will somehow reflect poorly on their own institution and all the other locales around the city bearing the Yawkey name.
Their worries were understandable, but I didn’t find them especially persuasive or convincing enough to carry more weight than the burden of history surrounding Tom Yawkey’s legacy and how it still weighs on not only the Red Sox but so many others in the Boston community.
I listened to the testimony of Tito Jackson, the former city councilor; of Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston branch of the NAACP; and especially Walter S. Carrington, the former commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination that investigated the Red Sox’ shoddy hiring practices — on their roster and their offices –— of people of color.
And I read in the Globe about how Tommy Harper, who has consistently spoken truth to power from his days as a Red Sox and since, wants the name to come off the street sign.
The Red Sox pointedly stayed out of the public debate. They said they wanted principal owner John Henry’s comments to the Herald last August — that he was “haunted” by the legacy of Yawkey — to stand.
They said Henry’s comments and their adherence to the precise protocol laid out by the City of Boston for changing a street name — present a petition that’s been unanimously signed by all abutters on the street — is enough.
We’re going to find out later this morning if the Red Sox made a tactical mistake by staying out of the spotlight and allow the formidable forces gathered by the Yawkey Foundation to dominate the debate.
A no vote on the name change will likely provoke some second-guessing in the executive offices. Hopefully, it would not dissuade them from trying again with another unanimous petition as soon as it wants.
The argument against the Red Sox’ efforts have ranged from being PC, following a false narrative and being meaningless and only symbolic.
Every opinion has its supporters. This decision is not a matter of opinion. It’s a matter of the City of Boston never forgetting its past and doing whatever it can, when it can, to do the right thing.
Change the name, PIC. Sticking with the status quo is not a viable option.