Efforts to Rename Brady Arts District

[AquaMan]

It was always racist at its core. Are you kidding me?

Read this:
http://thislandpress.com/04/18/2012/tate-brady-battle-greenwood/

Not kidding anyone. Already read that series when it came out. It was originally a fraternity type association that was similar to college fraternal organizations. Like many associations, it was co-opted and misused. It came out of the South I believe and peaked around 1920 wherein it began to disintegrate as its members fought among themselves and the government took interest.


It seems odd to me that people believe we have no obligation to make reparations for the race riot because it was another time, another group of citizens far removed from us so we have no direct responsibility today. Yet, they seem to think it has relevance to what the area is called today?

Anyway, why would you care? You don't care much for that area having any defining label at all from what you've written.

Note added 6:18pm. Apparently a quick check with Wikipedia, in whom I give some credibility but much doubt, there were three incarnations of the Klan. The second one peaked in the 1920's and was organized as a fraternal organization. I do believe many people mistakenly joined the organization because of its overt political chauvinism, its business relationships and its insistence on pure morality. Once they found out what it really was its membership dropped rapidly. By 1930 it was practically gone.

[patric]

Not kidding anyone. Already read that series when it came out. It was originally a fraternity type association that was similar to college fraternal organizations. Like many associations, it was co-opted and misused. It came out of the South I believe and peaked around 1920 wherein it began to disintegrate as its members fought among themselves and the government took interest.

It was started as a joke Greek fraternity by three lawyers in Tennessee during reconstruction.
The "secret society" aspect became useful to people trying to cope with the corruption that invariably comes with being on the wrong side of an occupation, and in it's original form, the organization assisted displaced civilians, including freed slaves.  
Now, it wasnt exactly the Red Cross, nor were there any pretense about equality (the focus had always been white supremacy in some form or another).  It was an underground network more concerned with finding food and jobs than any sort of political agenda, but it didnt stay that way.

Not long after Confederate General Forrest was brought on board as a celebrity endorser, he was given the reins of command -- and promptly ordered it disbanded to halt the escalating violence, intimidation, and the Klan "being perverted from its original honorable and patriotic purposes, becoming injurious instead of subservient to the public peace".

Paraphrasing an old Pablo Cruise song, Hate Will Find a Way, and the KKK was reborn in 1920's Atlanta to promote right-wing nationalism.

[Conan71]

It seems odd to me that people believe we have no obligation to make reparations for the race riot because it was another time, another group of citizens far removed from us so we have no direct responsibility today. Yet, they seem to think it has relevance to what the area is called today?

What exactly are appropriate reparations in this case, now 92 years later?  Is it a monetary award to every living descendant? Is it renaming the entire area after it's ultimately successful push for an identity for the last 30 years?  Will anything ever be enough?

At what point do we pull the arrow out and simply heal?  Why the obsession with perpetuating the darkest days in Tulsa history?

Every ethnic group, and every race has been oppressed at one time or another.  Where do we draw the line at recognizing the worst of history and thinking everyone or someone in particular is owed something for the sins of the past?

Sometimes all you can do as a reparation is to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

[RecycleMichael]

I don't think this is about reparations. It is about not honoring a man who was involved in some awful things.

I feel the same way about Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill. He committed genocide on Americans, but nobody talks about it because it happen long ago.

[swake]

I don't think this is about reparations. It is about not honoring a man who was involved in some awful things.

I feel the same way about Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill. He committed genocide on Americans, but nobody talks about it because it happen long ago.

Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson should never be honored

[AquaMan]

What exactly are appropriate reparations in this case, now 92 years later?  Is it a monetary award to every living descendant? Is it renaming the entire area after it's ultimately successful push for an identity for the last 30 years?  Will anything ever be enough?

At what point do we pull the arrow out and simply heal?  Why the obsession with perpetuating the darkest days in Tulsa history?

Every ethnic group, and every race has been oppressed at one time or another.  Where do we draw the line at recognizing the worst of history and thinking everyone or someone in particular is owed something for the sins of the past?

Sometimes all you can do as a reparation is to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

I'm not convinced reparations are in order. They may be deserved but there were lots of injustices to Native Americans, Irish and women as well. We have to move on and make note of the history and how it came about. A memorial is suitable. I just think its dis-ingenuous to oppose reparations because of the time elapsed yet find merit in changing place names related to people long gone. My son went to Lee school named after Robert E Lee and their team name was the Rebels.  Must we scrub it all clean?

[Callahan]

This has been covered in previous threads here. And it was part of a series of stories in a local monthly newspaper.

My take is that if we have to go back and scrub off the graffiti of previous generations' work in building this city because of their political or societal views that don't match the current generation, we're going to have to totally rename large portions of the city and perhaps even its name.

Yeah, go back and scrub it all away. Go back and scrub away the bigotry and hatred. Scrub away the reality, the truth about the hatred, biased political views, the corruption, the alienation and the segregation, the battle of classes, the battle of religion, the battle of human rights, the class struggle that has ruled Tulsa. The mediocrity, the I know I'm successful screw the rest. Let's pave over what we don't like, and the rest can kiss my a$$. Sorry if you are not Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Unitarian,  Lutheran, Christian, Pentecostal, Foursquare, it's going to be hard to scrub anything from the past.

[AquaMan]

Yeah, go back and scrub it all away. Go back and scrub away the bigotry and hatred. Scrub away the reality, the truth about the hatred, biased political views, the corruption, the alienation and the segregation, the battle of classes, the battle of religion, the battle of human rights, the class struggle that has ruled Tulsa. The mediocrity, the I know I'm successful screw the rest. Let's pave over what we don't like, and the rest can kiss my a$$. Sorry if you are not Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Unitarian,  Lutheran, Christian, Pentecostal, Foursquare, it's going to be hard to scrub anything from the past.

You seem to be describing your present view of the city as much as the city's past. Or perhaps both.

Lighten up just a bit.  All of what you describe is here if you look for it and I have seen it first hand, but Tulsa is no different than the rest of America. We are subject to human frailties of greed, avarice, egotism, pride, racism and religious chauvinism. In fact I often tell folks we have the best liars, cheats, chiselers and thieves in the world!

But we are also capable of the reverse of all those traits. They are there if you look for them. Tulsa has high rates of charitable giving, a long record of service to the disadvantaged, viewed as leaders outside the city in effecting ecumenical harmony and has made real efforts to ensure political fairness. Its far better here than it was just 20 years ago and another world from when I grew up here in the 50's. Our conservatism is legendary and imo stifling but there are pockets of progressives struggling to keep the ship from tipping and its like oasis when you find them.

Let me share a story that happened to me this week. I came home after work to find a young man lurking in the azalea bushes across the street where a house sits for sale. I parked the car and tried to figure out what his story was. We sometimes have people walk thru the hood with mental or emotional problems. They are generally harmless. That wasn't the case here. I saw him using his phone and realized he held the collar of a large dog in his other hand. I approached him and he told me the bloodied dog had been hit by a truck nearby where a pool is being installed. I suspected the dog was my neighbors dog who had a sketchy history of aggressiveness towards everyone. Once you got past her defensiveness she is a truly lovely lab mix. This young man took it upon himself to let the dog lead him to its home, then called his girlfriends parents who lived nearby. The parents got information from me about the owners who were out of town. They even went back to where the dog was hit and found her tags. We looked up an emergency vet, called the owners and loaded the bloody dog into their little SUV and took her there. Several other neighbors became involved as well.

The dog will lose an eye and has a broken jaw. The owners gushed with appreciation for strangers caring for a member of their family. No one spoke out loud about the potential cost of vet service, of cleaning the blood off their clothes and upholstery. No one called the police about a stranger lurking in the bushes or pulled a gun on him. No one held the dogs past history against her either. People just did the right thing and no one thought much of it.

The players involved were from varied segments of the city; Educators, atheists, agnostics, Unitarians, Catholics, a Lutheran, young, old, poor, professional, blue collar, conservative and liberal, all white and all animal owners. None of that came up. I savor the incident.

You're probably too angry to see the other side of Tulsa right now. I hope it finds you.

[DTowner]

So many Tulsans have toiled for decades to create a brand and build a vibrant downtown arts district and now some want to confuse people and kill the surging momentum by starting over by renaming it (too bad "The Rose District" is now taken).  To most Tulsans, The Brady District simply shares a name with the street and the theater – not to honor a racist man from a bygone era. 

If it's morality you want to argue, then we have lots of things named after Presidents, generals and others who owned slaves and/or fought to preserve slavery as a viable institution..  Those deeds were well known, yet their names continue adorning our money and buildings.

Henry Ford held some vile views, but the foundation that bears his name now supports liberal causes.  Highways, airports, stadiums and schools are named for various Kennedys, yet we continue to learn of deep and troubling flaws within their character.  For that matter, Dr. Martin Luther King may have plagiarized part of his doctorial thesis and engaged in extramarital affairs, yet scarcely a town in this country doesn't have a highway, school or more named for him and a new memorial in D.C was recently dedicated.

Where do we draw the line and who decides what part of history gets scrubbed clean for our modern sensibilities and what stays?

[rdj]

Well said DTowner.  Our community recently changed Cincinnati to MLK Ave, so we have an MLK memorial that runs along the border of the Brady District.  Interesting.

As far as the name change, if there is a groundswell of support from the stakeholders in the area to change the name then so be it.  I wouldn't campaign against it, but I would consider it a waste of time and resources.  Too many needs in our community that can actually help healing and bring citizens out of poverty to waste resources on a re-branding that seems to be coming from a minority group of well-to-do midtowners.

[carltonplace]

All we need are some cans of spray paint

The BRADY ARTS DISTRICT

[JCnOwasso]

I am in no way a fan of the name "the brady district".  While Tulsa would not be without Brady, what would have Tulsa become without his negative influence before, during and after the race riots.  You cannot separate the man and his actions.  He was vehimently against the success of blacks within Tulsa and actively blocked the attempts to rebuild Greenwood.  You want to name a street after him because he is the father of Tulsa, okay.  But having an arts district carrying his name is, in a way, a celebration of him.  You have a rich arts history in Tulsa that could be drawn from... Guthrie arts district, Cains Arts District, Wills Arts district, hell call it the Hanson Arts District... at least these were positive influences on Tulsa (though Hanson could be debated lol, but after seeing the crowds on Friday, they still seem to be pretty dang popular)

This is not about political correctedness.  It is about removing a negative connotation from an area that is full of creativity and is becoming a destination for nightly activities.  Is it going to bring the city together to sing cumbayah?  Nope.  Is it going to solve the nation debt crisis?  no.  Is it good karma? yeah. 

[Conan71]

Lee Roy Chapman is credited with "extensive" research for his article which appeared in This Land Press which is what seems to have stirred the bucket. 

http://thislandpress.com/04/18/2012/tate-brady-battle-greenwood/?page_num=1

Looking at the footnotes, one must draw their own conclusions about what the Ku Klux Klan and Sons of Confederate Veterans were or believe the author's ideas about what either of those societies represented or believed at the time.  One other item which has been ignored is that Tate Brady eventually renounced his membership in the Klan.  Even Brady's alleged participation in the race riots is somewhat murky in the article and at best, not extensively documented by very many sources.

Back then, the Sons of Confederate Veterans wasn't merely a benign Civil War re-enactment club, as it is so often portrayed in today's media. One of its organizing principles was, and remains, "the emulation of [the Confederate veteran's] virtues, and the perpetuation of those principles he loved."

As the largest gathering of Confederate veterans since the Civil war (more than 40,000 attended), the 1918 Tulsa convention celebrated Southern nostalgia and ideologies. Tulsa leaders banded together to raise over $100,000 to cover the cost of the event. Reunion visitors were treated to the best of Tulsa's marvels: tours to the oil fields, free trolley tickets, and lodging with modern-day heated quarters. Although Tate Brady was the primary organizer of the reunion, its committee members included judges, ministers, and influential names that are still widely recognized in Tulsa: R. M. McFarlin, S. R. Lewis, Earl P. Harwell, Charles Page, W. A. Vandever, Eugene Lorton, and J. H. McBirney.

It sounds as if many prominent Tulsans of the day would be labeled as evil racists as well based on these associations.  Perhaps we should re-name the McFarlin Library on the TU campus, Harweldon, Charles Page Boulevard, Lortondale neighborhood, Lewis Avenue, and for good measure never call the McBirney mansion by that name ever again. 

[guido911]

Lee Roy Chapman is credited with "extensive" research for his article which appeared in This Land Press which is what seems to have stirred the bucket. 

http://thislandpress.com/04/18/2012/tate-brady-battle-greenwood/?page_num=1

Looking at the footnotes, one must draw their own conclusions about what the Ku Klux Klan and Sons of Confederate Veterans were or believe the author's ideas about what either of those societies represented or believed at the time.  One other item which has been ignored is that Tate Brady eventually renounced his membership in the Klan.  Even Brady's alleged participation in the race riots is somewhat murky in the article and at best, not extensively documented by very many sources.

It sounds as if many prominent Tulsans of the day would be labeled as evil racists as well based on these associations.  Perhaps we should re-name the McFarlin Library on the TU campus, Harweldon, Charles Page Boulevard, Lortondale neighborhood, Lewis Avenue, and for good measure never call the McBirney mansion by that name ever again. 

Freakin "Lortondale"? Why is that place in this thread.... ducking, donning Kevlar.

[carltonplace]

Freakin "Lortondale"? Why is that place in this thread.... ducking, donning Kevlar.

Kevlar won't help when you are run over by a bicycle.