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 JJ B on
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@RichWalker
"today, all the connotations of it are bad." That is an assertion that you are making. The fact that you make it does not make it true.
That is one of the reasons why the name change is contentious.
Another is the way in which our council is carrying out the process.
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@Luci
Pls do make your points. All the points made are valid.
What we do need is for the coucnil to lead a process that allows for proper consulation and transparency.
We often forget, maybe they do too, that they actually work for us!
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Where are you from?
Are you Black?
But you are not Black
https://danielleayow.com/but-youre-not-black
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I am very uncomfortable about the JJ B response to this today 10 Feb.
What does it matter the ethnicity of someone? Making such a comment could be considered racist and rude.
I have spoken to residents of Caribbean, Mauritian, Indian, Irish, British and European background. All are against the renaming, the council behaviour in this matter, and have no objection to the name in the first place.
One of the councillors that is most vocal in his objections happens to be Black, born in South Africa and spent his childhood in Zimbabwe. If anyone is qualified to speak out about racism and prejudice it is someone who has experienced a level of racism and prejudice that makes the UK pale into insignificance.
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If you investigate the link given by JJ B you will understand his email more clearly
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@Ian Jackson Reeves
Have you explored the link that is actually in the reply? And looked at the short video about a film that someone has made about their identity?
You can acuse me of being 'out of context' with the BBL discussion and you would be very right.
When you say "What does it matter the ethnicity of someone? Making such a comment could be considered racist and rude." I think you actually agree with the essence of my post which was meant to get people to be more aware and sensitive when using language. And have less knee jerk reactions.
I say this because people ofetn ask ME this question.... "Where are you from?"
I often reply with.... "What exactly are you asking?
Where do I live?
Where was I born?
What is my nationality?
Where did you grow up?
What is your ethnic origin?
Since none of these have the same one answer and so I can't be "put in a box".
But they don't go around asking white people this question!
Have people looked at 'I May Damage You' on BBC iPLayer?
In one episode someone automatically assumes the main protagonist is the "Afro-Caribbean" when filling out the usual profile survey you get when filling out questionnaires - She is indeed Black.
She freaks out at that, insisting that she is of African background but certainly not Caribbean and she can't understand why he (a white professional male) just assumed Black = Afro Caribbean.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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Thanks for linking to that documentary, I'm quite keen to watch it.
I like you would answer differently to all of those questions. Though I look very white so people put me in a box. I was adopted so that adds another layer of complexity to the ethnicity question - particularly as the people who adopted me were from another country (England) to the one I was born and raised in (New Zealand).
I've grown to love my own (and others') confusion over my identity. I can use it to my advantage - dial up the "Britishness" if I want to! But I think it also helps me to understand and empathise with others. And growing up in a former British colony has really helped me to understand the legacy of British imperialism.
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Hi everyone - Albert Park has been renamed in our borough
https://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/19080036.haringey-recreat...
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From Prince Albert to some bloke you've never heard of! 51% - barely a majority in favour. And then, of course, there's Ejiofor getting his smug mug in the papers again.
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Tambo belonged to the ANC. Many people are unaware of the fact it had a violent paramilitary wing responsible for bombing civilians and putting burning tyres around the necks of political opponents. Naming a community park after a terrorist gives an insight into the the mind of the man running our council.
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