(Memphis) Police packed city council chambers for a public hearing on the renaming of three city parks.
It has some people so angry, they traveled from across the country over the weekend.
Monday night, a committee sat and listened to anyone who wanted to talk and give their opinion why three parks named after Confederates in the Civil War should or shouldn’t be allowed to keep their names.
Some had simple points.
Others looked at history, and other traded jabs.
“Our history is just as valuable and important as your history,” one man said.
“Your history?” a woman asked. “It’s our collective history.”
Whatever it is, the city is riled up.
With school budgets in turmoil, crime and blight around so many corners, and mega employers taking off for better places, is this what we choose to get angry about?
“My God, we can’t even take care of the puppies and kittens in animal center. We don’t have money,” a resident pointed out.
City Council member Harold Collins said the issue will come down to money, perhaps a hint to where the committee stands, “Whatever we recommend there’s going to be a fiscal part to it. There’s going to be changes that are going to have to be made, it’s going to cost money.”
