Hate remains, but don’t glorify it

Changing street names in Hollywood won’t get rid of hate, that’s for sure.

There will always be vile bigots. Changing street names, getting rid of monuments and Confederate flags, none of that will put the haters out of business.

But bigotry and hatred should not be honored. And having a street named after a person honors that person.

So with the city of Hollywood voting to rename three streets named after Confederate generals, I say “good riddance.” And what took them so long to do it?

The Sun Sentinel last week told how one Hollywood resident, Benjamin Israel, kept the street renaming issue alive for a couple of years when commissioners tried to simply ignore doing the right thing. They finally agreed to the change, with a final vote set for next month.

After the story about Israel appeared in the paper, among the texted responses was one so vile and racist— in less than 10 words, African-Americans and Jews got trashed — that I don’t have enough bleeps and asterisks to get the garbage into print.

Take my word for it, the note just proves bigotry isn’t going anywhere.

But at least Hollywood is saying they don’t want to insult their residents by having street names that honor a short-lived era in which slavery was considered fine and dandy. For those who still want to glorify the Confederacy, fine. Do it in your own home. Or on the back of your pick up truck. But it shouldn’t be in the faces of residents on street names.

If you want to say this is political correctness run amok, go ahead. But you’re wrong.

It is not OK to be abusive or bigoted, even if our incompetent president gives you the idea that you can act like that. If showing decency to your neighbors is being politically correct, that’s fine. Call it whatever you want.

What is stunning in all of this is that among the three streets being renamed, one was named for Nathan Bedford Forrest. His greatest claim to fame was not only being a Confederate officer, he was also the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

According to a story in Miami New Times, Forrest was outraged when he saw black men in Union uniforms after the Confederacy took control of Fort Pillow in 1864. Forrest was so upset, he ordered their mass slaughter, even after they surrendered. Almost 300 died.

And instead of being ashamed, Hollywood public officials, for years, allowed a street honoring him to be in their city. Give me a break.

But Hollywood finally got the message, as did the rest of the country, with Confederate monuments and flags other remnants of an ugly era being removed.

Confederacy enthusiasts say this is erasing history. Nobody is rewriting history. The Confederacy will always be a part of America’s past. But it belongs in history books or museums. We can’t change what happened, but we should darn well learn from it.

Maybe it’s just me, but I still cringe when I see a bumper sticker of a Confederate flag on a vehicle. To me, it’s an inyour-face statement of intolerance, but if you want to deface your car or truck like that and show people what you believe, go ahead.

At least Hollywood is making a statement about tolerance. It sure took them long enough, but at least it’s being done.

Gary Stein