Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Council Decides to Rename Black Boy Lane
Following my consideration on the origins of West Green's Black Boy name back in the summer, Haringey Council has decided to rename Black Boy Lane in West Green.
The Council have called the exercise a 'renaming consultation', but the online questionnaire offers only the ability to choose from a shortlist of two new names. So it appears that the decision to rename has already been taken with only the choice of name left to be decided.
They have issued the following press release.
The council has launched a renaming consultation with residents and businesses located on Black Boy Lane, as part of the wider Review on Monuments, Buildings, Place and Street Names in Haringey – which was launched on 12 June 2020, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The council believes that the names of our monuments, buildings, places and streets must reflect the values and diversity that we are so proud of in the borough. One of the street names that has been identified as not being reflective of this is Black Boy Lane.
Meanings change over time, and the term “Black Boy” is now most commonly used as a derogatory name for African heritage men.
As part of the consultation, the council is asking residents to consider new alternative names that celebrate some of the borough’s most notable influencers, and truly reflect the borough’s rich heritage.
The two names that have been shortlisted for residents to consider are, ‘Jocelyn Barrow Lane’ and ‘La Rose Lane’. The consultation will launch today, Monday 28 September and will run for a period of 4 weeks to Monday 26 October 2020.
Letters will be arriving on Black Boy Lane residents' doorsteps this week, who can respond to the consultation using one of the following methods:
- Online: www.haringey.gov.uk/renaming-black-boy-lane.
- Email:
- bblconsultation@haringey.gov.uk
- Telephone: 020 8489 3797
- By post: Consultation Co-ordinator, The Communications Team, River Park House, 225 High Road, Wood Green, London, N22 8HQ
If Haringey residents have concerns or queries about place, street or building names in the borough, please get in touch. Send your views to Leader@haringey.gov.uk.
Bios:Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow (15 April 1929 – 9 April 2020) was a Barbadian/Trinidadian British educator, community activist and politician, who was the Director for UK Development at Focus Consultancy Ltd. She was the first Black woman to be a governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and was founder and Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Council.
John La Rose was a publisher, poet and essayist. He founded the Caribbean Artists’ Movement and publishing company New Beacon Books which has a bookshop in Stroud Green. In 1975, he co-founded the Black Parents Movement from the core of the parents involved in the George Padmore Supplementary School incident in which a young Black schoolboy was beaten up by the police outside his school in Haringey.
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Tags for Forum Posts: blackboy lane name change, review on monuments, building place and street names
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Colinloves on
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like to point out, its not BLM that are demanding the street be renamed.
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grouping the left, like you have done, does indeed, aline you with the the nasty rightwing.
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Permalink Reply by maggie on
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Al you say -"This is how people of the left operate now. If your point is not on message and is critical of their opinion then your declared a witch and must be burned or drowned. Freedom of speech doesn't fit into the brave new world of the neo left.", and ..."I now consider myself centre right. The far left have created a hostile "with us or against us" mentality that is causing fair & reasonably minded people to react against them and cause division. Maybe this is their point? "
Al it is you who introduced political 'left' versus 'right' divisions into this discussion (your posts 5th October), and then furthered the divisions into 'far left', 'left of centre','Neo left', 'left', 'centre right' and even accusing Black Lives Matter of being "slightly to the left of Pol Pot".
You repeatedly accuse BLM of being a "far left " political group (5th October). You accuse Haringey Councils intent to "initiate the changing of the names for no discernible reason at all other to announce their "support" for what is an extreme left political group." (again whatever 'far left' is meant to mean though it is clear it is meant as a 'smear') without giving any evidence. You then accuse BLM of having "aims regarding policing and family structure are slightly to the right of Pol Pot", (the infamous genocidal mass murderer), again with nothing to support your claims.
When JJB responded to your first attempt to 'smear' BLM for "branding them 'extreme' in order to discredit their objectives" and elaborated on the history behind BLM and reasons for supporting it you were nowhere to be seen.
It is you who are dividing people along these lines even when contributors across this discussion do not fit into your categories e.g. Colin Loves who said "As a life long Anti-Racist and supporter of BLM, I'm against this.....it should be left alone."
Colin Loves also pointed out "that it is not BLM that are demanding the street be renamed."
There are valid and complex reasons for and against 'renaming' that come from a wide range of people that deserve to be heard without comments that could be seen to be inflammatory.
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Maggie it appears that if anyone is criticising its you and to be honest I’m finding your constant comments annoying. The fact remains that there is no evidence provided from Haringey Council that the vast majority of people living in Haringey want the name changed. So where did this come from? Is it not true that it’s since BLM a started their protests that Haringey Leader decided without proper consultation with all residents to change names of streets? Is this not equally unrepresentative of all haringey residents? Why are we all not given a chance to vote on the issue? Of course I find that people like you always use the inflammatory card when you get a response you don’t like. Whether they change it or not, this will not resolve the causes of discrimination but in fact wasting this money to me has caused divisions and resentments. Have a full consultation with all haringey residents from all nationalities and races not just the few.
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Nick Eftychiou I am happy to oblige with another annoying comment. You pose many questions which you assume that I would be opposed to, I don't know where you've got this from as I have not addressed these issues, I have merely posted my objections to certain posts which try to label the BLM movement as extreme in order to discredit their objectives, or the use of lazy tropes like "put Political Correctness in the trash," or comment on reviewing history.
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You offer as proof that BLM is a far left group an article by a journalist who uses posts on a BLM website as evidence of this. This is no proof at all, you might just as well say that Harringay-on-Line is 'far left' far right', 'anarchist' or whatever because some people leave posts on it according to their own persuasions.
Alexander Philips- The Telegraph "Don't take my word for it. Take theirs. The form of words that appears on most online posts connected to group riffs on 'the black radical tradition' which counts among its past contributors the Black Panther Movement and Malcom X." This is tenuous to say the least seeing that the Black Panther Movement had its hey day in the 1960s and ceased to exist in 1982; likewise Malcolm X who died 21/02/1965. ..."riffs on a 'black radical tradition' " good grief, this is proof of nothing and is meaningless.
The Spectator article at least offers information from one BLM group website, however as I have said before BLM is not centralised, there is no single leadership, there is no formal hierarchy and there is no shared manifesto, it is a movement. The vast majority of BLM supporters do not belong to any BLM group and reflect a wide range of people. So BLM US is separate from the BLM Movement in the UK, which is separate from BLM UK, which is distinct from All Black Lives UK and then there are local BLM organising groups such as BLM Leeds which "combats racial inequality using Black perspectives to educate and empower all individuals to contribute to an equitable society", I don't see a problem with that.
The Spectator article does provide links to a single group BLMUK which is indeed radical in that it calls for the end of capitalism however its other policies such as equality between the sexes and genders is fairly standard. Other BLM groups are active in e.g. publicising that global warming will disproportionately affect countries such as Africa where the population is predominantly black, however as I said the majority of BLM supporters are not in any group at all, they are part of a BLM movement (small 'm').
The other link to Haringey Council has a letter from Councillor Ejifor and states “I would like to thank the residents who have been in touch raising long-standing concerns about some street and building names in Haringey. A real discussion on the way in which we memorialise historical figures is long-overdue."
“If we are to truly demonstrate our commitment to and solidarity with the aims of the Black Lives Matter movement, we must seriously address these issues."This is proof of what? That Councillor Ajifor supports the Black Lives Matter movement (small 'm'), he supports all of those who were appalled that a police officer could kneel on the neck of another human being until he died and is in support of all those who feel that it is high time that there was an equitable society. He is not supporting or affiliating to any group whether it is called BLMUK or even UKBLM, or even BLM Movement.
Your accusation that Haringey Councils intent to "initiate the changing of the names for no discernible reason at all other to announce their "support" for what is an extreme left political group " when the Black Lives Matter movement is not a distinct single group let alone an "extreme political group", is completely hollow.
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Hackney on
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Colinloves - grouping the right, as you have just done, is, of course, perfectly acceptable. Bravo!
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I’m not saying that but it’s got to the point that anything said is going to offend someone. All nationalities have at some point suffered and bullying and racism exists against all nationalities races and sexuality and again I say changing a street name will not change it. And let me tell you something, I was bullied at school for years by the same 3 black boys to the pint when up to today I still see their faces and remember their names clearly. My point is that it’s not just black people who were picked on then or now and again fight for change in the way people think and view not change a street name and certainly not a name that favours any nationality, colour or race. Choose a neutral name if you have to change it...Saying that it seems we keep going if the subject of this thread so I’m going to stop commenting...
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It tallies with those of a certain mindset, blame the past for your current woes, not the ineptitude of the present.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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The present only exists because of what happened in the past
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The present is entirely controllable - I didn't ask to be born poor without a dad, it just happened and, yeh, I could be angry about it, but it's a waste of time.
If you restrict yourself as an individual because of what some people in the past may have done, then your holding yourself back.
That being said, the best thing is to arm yourself with the knowledge about what happened and don't let it hold you back.
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Permalink Reply by Christina Davis on
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Thanks for the info, Hugh. I hope they choose La Rose lane - that sounds just about bearable. It would be super interesting to know how many people are eligible to answer the questionnaire and how many actually do.
I am sure Jocelyn Barrow is very worthy but I have always been strongly against naming roads with the full name of a particular time's heroes and campaigners. Cyril Smith Close in Enfield N13 being a good example.
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