Stapleton's Name (Denver: neighborhoods, land, racist)

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by Eddyline

Zero connection between Forest City (one r) and Confederate General Forrest (two r s).
So what is your point?

My point was one of nerd humor revolving around the concept of homonyms.

[gymtime101]

It's laughable that this even made the news, everyone not originally from New England knew this.

Let it pass.

[gymtime101]

Change Stone Mountain in Atlanta to Rainbow Ridge!

[eatsDEN]

In the 1920s, the Klan moved in many states to dominate local and state politics. The Klan devised a strategy called the "decade," in which every member of the Klan was responsible for recruiting ten people to vote for Klan candidates in elections. In 1924 the Klan succeeded in engineering the elections of officials from coast to coast, including the mayors of Portland, Maine, and Portland, Oregon. In some states, such as Colorado and Indiana, they placed enough Klansmen in positions of power to effectively control the state government. Known as the "Invisible Empire," the KKK's presence was felt across the country.

The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s . Fatal Flood . WGBH American Experience | PBS


maybe a fairly large re-naming effort - depending on how many political type folks from the 20s have been memoralized

[step33]

My thought is still that yeah - they rename it. Just put up a statue somewhere of someone ALSO named Stapleton and declare the neighborhood is named after them.

Any candidates for an acceptable role model named Stapleton?

[denverian]

Originally Posted by emm74

I was personally on the fence. I could see the arguments that we should look to the future, not the past, and the community was named for the airport and the association with this individual has been lost over time. And that while Stapleton isn't very diverse, it's probably more diverse than a person like him would have been happy with (said as a Jewish woman, so I am sure he'd be just thrilled about my family! lol!) Plus the logistical nightmare and what would be a huge expense for both the MCA and for individual businesses, etc.

But the more comments I've seen from people opposed to changing the name and the reasons why, the more disgusted I've gotten, and now I wholeheartedly support changing the name of my community.

These are my feelings as well. I had no clue the name was associated with the KKK until maybe 3 or 4 years ago. At this point, I certainly don't associate the neighborhood name with the KKK. My family is interracial and we have experience zero racism in Stapleton. May Stapleton would probably hate what Stapleton represents today. So one option is to remove the name (could be expensive, as you pointed out). Plus, old habits die hard. What would we call it? Or would we just use the individual neighborhood names, that no one else in the metro area even knows? If we dropped "Stapleton", and someone at work asked me where I lived, I would say I lived in "Eastbridge". Then, after they asked "where's that", I'd say, "in the old Stapleton airport development".

OR..... just thinking out loud here... why not try to turn the word "Stapleton" into a representation of anti-racism, inclusion, tolerance, etc.? I mean, nobody thinks Stapleton is some KKK enclave today (and it certainly isn't!). It's known for being quite liberal and tolerant. I don't know how you'd market it that way, but maybe it could work.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by TechMike

I wonder how Stapleton would feel about the road MLK Blvd running through a neighborhood named after him?

I would suggest changing the name. I don't think many people (including myself) really knew nor cared where the name came from, and there's enough of the population that find it offensive.

lol! Never thought about that. I think Stapleton is doing a good job of sticking it its namesake. But whatever, change it if it upsets a large amount of the population.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by step33

My thought is still that yeah - they rename it. Just put up a statue somewhere of someone ALSO named Stapleton and declare the neighborhood is named after them.

Any candidates for an acceptable role model named Stapleton?

I vote for Jean Stapleton!

[denverian]

One other thought... isn't Walker Stapleton a descendant of the KKK Stapleton?

[emm74]

Originally Posted by denverian

One other thought... isn't Walker Stapleton a descendant of the KKK Stapleton?

Yes, his grandfather.

And he's also related to the Bush family - the Walker in George Herbert Walker Bush is the same family.