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 Hugh on
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I assume it refers to the implied associations outlined in the preceding para. But do feel free to check with Bruce Castle.
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Permalink Reply by Stav Aristides on
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Well said, Gina.
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Agree. I've never seen any evidence that there is any genuine issue with Black Boy Lane. I'm sure there are people who say they're offended but there is no evidence that it is reasonable for those people to feel that way. There will always be people with strange views. We shouldn't indulge them.
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Agreed, reason and evidence should ultimately be given greater weight than feelings and 'perception' without solid foundation in fact.
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Permalink Reply by Anna on
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Today is the last day of the consultation. My freedom of information request to have the budget published (£71 000 minimum, based on figures given by the council so far) has not been published.
The council opened the snap survey to everyone, after tallying all the Black Boy Lane residents answer, a reasoning no. So they went ahead and now everyone can have their say. Multiple times as there is no limit as to how many times one can ‘answer’. Also no check or verification of who is participating.
I still want to believe common sense will prevail. Covid cost to Haringey is £70 million. A lot of kids in the school I work in go without food and a lot of the minorities keep falling behind because they don’t have laptops/wifi in their homes.
I still can not get my head around how renaming our street because ‘Black Boy’ is bad will help anyone in anyway. Black boys are NOT bad. And that money put towards supporting their education/chance for the future so they can become great people is the best way to make sure that no one thinks Black Boys are bad.
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You'd have to be racist to object to the proposed name change. At least that's what Uncle Joe and his gang will say. And the consultation blurb is written in such a way to support that conclusion.
That's why people are scared to put their name and address down on the consultation to register their objection. It will be visible to all kinds of nutters who think that applying a bit of common sense and making evidence based decisions is racist. All those masked violent people who turn up at BLM protests will know wherr you live.
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This worries me too. I'm saddened and angered by the Council's actions but to be honest I'm too scared to object publicly. Several people I know nearby feel the same. I'm an old man and don't want to be confronted or worse. Please just leave the road as it is. Everyone was happy before.
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You must not let fear stop you from speaking out.
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The only way is to try and get rid of Mr Ejofor. As far as the questionnaire I’ve tried it and you are right. I completed it twice and it did not pick up or advise that I had already completed it even though I used exactly the same details. I’m afraid they are going to change it what ever you say. Remember elections will come so when it does don’t vote for these current Cllr’s who seem to care only about their own agenda. As a resident of Black boy Lane maybe you could get the figures yourself of how many actual residents voted for and against. Then maybe contact the media and make it public this is probably the only way to make haringey think again.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I relented and filled in the survey even if, alledgedly, the council has stacked the case against opposers in the most "Maduran" way....
"The term "Black Boy" is not a negative one although some may perceive it to be when they first see it. I understood that reaction to be a Pavlovian one. We need this name to be explained and Black boys all over this land and beyond to be celebrated.
Can the council please provide CONCRETE PROOF of any connection between the name of the street and the slave trade or the fact that this name is an abusive one. To just give an assertion that the term "boy" was used to refer to slaves and servants is not good enough. In that case we need to stop using the word boy altogether. And the same about the word black, which the BLM movement actually continues to use to refer to themselves. I can find an equal number of occasions when it (“boy”) is actually used as a term of endearment. If we start to use such weak standards to make such important changes where does it stop? And I do make quite a distinction between this proposal and actions to get a statue honouring a slave trader to be removed.
I also say this as someone who is of mixed heritage - black Caribbean, a descendant of slaves and white European, a descendant of the "petite bourgeosie". So, I am not expressing my opinion in a vacuum - I grew up being called “black” by whites and “whitey” by blacks. I have not allowed this to make me bitter and colour my judgement about either sets of human beings. But I did not hesitate either, when years ago, after recently arriving in the UK to work, in the context of a general staff meeting, a senior manger at my work place casually used the words “there is always a Ni...er in the woodpile” when addressing the meeting. I was one of only two persons among the very large gathering of staff members to actually make a formal complaint and follow it through.
I just cannot see how people (albeit "white people"), would have named a street in their own neighbourhood to denigrate a person even if it was done in times of slavery and ill treatment/exploitation of "Black people”. Can we really conceive that they would have walked down their street thinking “we named this street after a black person who we don’t really care for”? There are many "Jewish Quarters" all over Europe. No one calls for name changes there!
Once again I think this is a knee-jerk reaction to words. And we just cannot allow misunderstandings to rule our lives in this way.
I feel the council is wrong with this one and that given the reasonable doubt and the tremendaous amount of disruption this will cause to residenst and substantial amount of scarce resources/money that will be needed to make the change, that the council should not go ahead with a name change at this time.
A name change can always be done later once "things settle down", if concrete evidence can be provided to prove the denigratory meaning and origin of the name and if enough people still feel the same."
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Hackney on
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"Denigrate" might be a quadruple entendre, or ultra massively ironic.
De-nigrate is probably what Joe is trying to achieve, though he probably wouldn't say so.
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