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 DavidJ on
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In the interest of balance here is the link to the petition for the change of name:
https://www.change.org/p/haringey-council-to-change-the-name-of-bla...
This one doesn't have huge numbers either.
It is worth noting, however, that the petition was set up 4 months ago, before the recent Haringey initiative.
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Permalink Reply by Colinloves on
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"On a short walk around the roads adjacent to my home in Tottenham, I noticed that one road was named 'Black Boy Lane'."
Sounds like they were just looking for outrage.
Hardly a reason to change a road name.
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Permalink Reply by Nick Eftychiou on
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I agree and how long has he lived there and only just noticed! I would therefore respond to him and say pay for the change from your pocket bet he would quickly in notice!
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Thanks David, that answers my question from earlier today. So the council WERE responding to something.
Reading the petitioner's explanation, it does seem to be predicated on a questionable assumption -- the petitioner construes that the name is racist. This is not really proven by the available facts, it seems.
Then again, PERCEPTION matters.
But how much weight should be given to perception, even if it may be based on a misapprehension?
Tune in tonight for the Moral Maze...
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True and again the question is how many people perceive it as Racist? There are many words that offend people for different reasons, do we then change every Word?
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Hi David, Its not such a recent initiative. Councillor Ejiofor announced the name change review on 12 June.
Its been coming for a while
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Yes, 4 months ago, at the same time as the petition and a couple of weeks after the murder of George Floyd.
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"based on institutionalised caricatures of African people".
"a road named to caricature and ridicule people who look like me".
"its clear racist connotations."
"the name is inherently racist and demeaning..."
Sorry, but is there any truth to any of these assertions?
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Pavlovian.....
Perception indeed.
I LIKE the fact that the streename gives a subtle up turned finger to the present day, white Royal establishment.
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"I LIKE the fact that the streename gives a subtle up turned finger to the present day, white Royal establishment."
Is that the sound of a barrel being scraped?
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Hackney on
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In general it seems that streets are named for reasons of respect and veneration. Bobby Moore Way, Sir Matt Busby Way for instance. Black Boy Lane probably followed this pattern. There was a Black Boy worthy of veneration. The restored monarch perhaps. Black Boy probably had only positive connotations (except to puritans).
Where will we find Luftwaffe Way, Idi Amin Avenue, Pol Pot Crescent, Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey Boulevard. There are none.
I see no truth in the assertions.
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