Editorial: Naming city's iconic park for James Weldon Johnson was a great decision for Jacksonville

Renaming Jacksonville’s premier city park for its most famous native was the right thing to do.

So praise goes to the 16 members of City Council who voted to rename Hemming Park for James Weldon Johnson. And shame to the two members who found excuses not to change the name. But their attitudes used to be the majority in this city.

Mayor Lenny Curry called this “a proud accomplishment” and said he was looking forward to signing the legislation.

It would be difficult to find a more talented native of Jacksonville than Johnson: author, poet, lyricist, scholar, civil rights leader and diplomat. His books are worth reading over and over. 

Johnson is best known as the co-writer of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” with his brother John Rosamond Johnson. 

Sadly, many Americans don’t even know that Jacksonville is Johnson’s home. They think that New York City is. Johnson left Jacksonville during the height of the Jim Crow era when civil rights that were granted after the Civil War were diabolically rolled back in Jacksonville and the South.

In his writing, Johnson describes a Jacksonville that was welcoming for Blacks, and then everything turned right around 1900.

When former Confederate Charles Hemming donated a statue of a Confederate soldier and the Downtown park was renamed for him, it was the height of Jim Crow. By placing that statue on a 62-foot pedestal, it sent a message that Blacks were going to be placed into second-class citizenship. 

By unfair laws, unequal enforcement and terror lynchings, Blacks gradually lost their civil rights, including the right to vote. About 6 million Black Americans fled the South.

Once Johnson left Jacksonville, he became an influential voice within the NAACP for civil rights and against lynchings.

In recent years, the role of Blacks in Jacksonville history has been better appreciated. The Times-Union Editorial Page staff, for instance, partnered with the University of North Florida and local allies to produce stories and videos on Jacksonville’s fascinating African-American history. See the website, uncoveringjax.com.

We have also promoted the fact that Jacksonville’s African-American history is the city’s own history. 

Just as our Black citizens should be proud of Johnson, everyone in Jacksonville should embrace Johnson’s talent, his influence and his worldwide fame.

Ben Frazier of the Northside Coalition, an outspoken advocate for social justice, said in a news release, “I am cautiously optimistic that Jacksonville is finally starting to address the issue of race in an honest and straightforward fashion.”

Another tribute to Johnson will be coming at the site of his family's home in LaVilla where a park will be built with funds donated by Vestcor as part of a townhomes project. The park is named “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park.”

This is a great start. Jacksonville needs to do much more to celebrate our incredible Black history — as big parts of Jacksonville’s history.

The Kamala Harris nomination

When Democratic nominee Joe Biden named Kamala Harris as his eventual vice presidential nominee, he set historic firsts. She is the first Black woman and South Asian-American on a presidential ticket.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is many things. Her father is an immigrant from Jamaica, her mother is an immigrant from India. Both of them met as academics. Harris was born in America.

Harris has a law enforcement background as a prosecutor and ran the second largest justice system in the nation. Only the U.S. Attorney General’s Office is larger than California’s office.

Politics in the best of times is an ugly business, which probably is why Biden figured Harris could take the heat as a former prosecutor. She also can dish it out.

Criticism is fair game in politics. We understand that.

But we should be sensitive to those who seek to tap into racism and sexism. These days, racism and sexism often are cloaked, but we know dog whistles when we hear them.

The best test goes like this: Is Harris being criticized in ways that white people or men would not be? 

People of good will and all political persuasions must call out racism and sexism when they appear.