Atlanta

Should Confederate Avenue get a name change? Petition says yes

ATLANTA — There is a new push to re-name an Atlanta road after the deadly attack on protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

As of Monday afternoon, a petition on the website Change.org had about 4,000 online signatures to change the name of Confederate Avenue in southeast Atlanta.

Organizers say the petition is just the beginning of a larger effort to remove symbols of hate throughout the city.

The petition to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed says in part, "We can't normalize hate anymore. Symbols are meaningful and allowing Confederate flags, statues and street names serves only to perpetuate the fallacy that the hate they represent deserves equal time and attention from our society.

Brianna Taylor, who lives along Confederate Avenue said he hasn’t given it much thought.

"I think it's OK, because they have street names with Martin Luther King and Donald Hollowell, so I feel OK," Taylor said.

Samantha Deal, who also lives nearby, thinks the name should stay the same.

"It's history you know, and I think stuff like that should really be left alone. I don't think it speaks any kind of volumes about things today," Deal said.


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Critics also say changing the name could be a costly move, with people having to change driver's licenses and other official documents.

"That could cause a lot of problems for people, a lot. I know I definitely don't want to have to deal with that," Deal said.

Others say changing a street name won't get to the root of the underlying problem.

"We could change all the streets, we could take down all the statues, but I mean the hatred is in people's hearts. If you can't change people's hearts then changing a name on a sign isn't going to do anything," Atlanta resident Gary Sheets said.

Reed released a statement Monday saying he will carefully consider the petition. He also stressed that the city of Atlanta stands with the city of Charlottesville after the weekend’s violent protests.