Honoring a Man's Service Should Not Become Fodder for a Controversy

The current Pensacola Bay Bridge is named in honor of former Senate President Phillip D. Beall--this photo from the 1960s documents the bridge's ribbon cutting ceremony where Florida Governor LeRoy Collins presided.....

As we celebrate today's Martin Luther King holiday and celebrate all that this leader did for our country--it is great to see so many people recognize his influence and contributions to the civil rights movement in America.  It is great that communities around our nation have freeways, streets, buildings, schools and/or bridges named for Dr. King.

Again--this is a great thing.

The Escambia County School Board has named numerous educational facilities in honor of local leaders---to include the ECSD's former administrative building on Garden Street.

The Vernon McDaniel Building at 215 W. Garden Street was the school district's administrative headquarters until 2010.  It was named for an African-American civil rights pioneer;  McDaniel, the man,  was the principal of Booker T Washington High School and he was the first African-American elected to the Escambia County School Board.  He was also the first African-American to become Chairman of the Escambia School Board.  He fought for equal pay for black school administrators and won this change through a settlement agreement with the school district.

In late 2009, the school district purchased Gulf Power's then administrative building at 75 N. Pace Blvd.  It was known by many as the "Gulf Power" Building, or the "Pace" bldg.  When the school district renovated and moved into this new administrative facility--the board was lobbied by the descendants of Vernon McDaniel to name the new school district administrative facility the "Vernon McDaniel" building.  We did this (I was a member of the school board at that time), and there was no controversy at all.  We did this because previous leadership in the school district had clearly intended that the school district's administrative HQ be named in honor of this man--this was the intention.  And so we honored the will of the leaders that championed that designation.

Fast forward to early 2019 in Pensacola and a new bridge is being constructed from Pensacola to Gulf Breeze to replace the existing one that is nearing the end of its useful service life.  The bridge currently carries the designation of  "Phillip D. Beall Memorial Bridge."  Phillip Beall was a Florida state senator and senate President in the 1943.

According to current policy and statutory regulations, FDOT intends to maintain the existing bridge's designation and apply it to the replacement bridge once the new structure is completed in 2021--because the intent of the state's legislative action of 1962 that gave this bridge this designation was that the bridge connecting Gulf Breeze with Pensacola was to honor Senator Beall.

But now here comes the controversy.....

Some folks want to take away the state's designation of this bridge and instead rename it in honor of General Daniel R. "Chappie" James--a deceased Pensacola resident who was a Tuskegee Airman and the nation's first African-American 4-Star General.

There is no doubt that Chappie James and the James family's descendants are deserving of this honor.  No question at all.

The surviving family of Senator Beall, however, would prefer to keep the name of the new bay bridge as the Phillip D. Beall bridge is is standard practice and as comports with state law and administrative practice.

But seeing the brewing controversy--the Beall family has offered an olive branch in the form of an initiative to have the new bridge carry the designation of BOTH men--Senator Beall and General Chappie James.   Thus far, this offer has apparently fallen upon deaf ears--which is disappointing.

The movement and the group behind renaming the bay bridge in honor of Chappie James apparently have no interest in allowing the replacement bridge to share the designation jointly.  This group wants the bridge renamed for General James.  This group instead prefers to honor Sen. Beall with a memorial plaque at the foot of the new bridge--while actually renaming the new bridge to honor General James.  They intend to accomplish this via a legislative change in Tallahassee.

But is this the right way to go about this?

As I look back at what the school district did in 2010--I can't help but wonder what would have happened if we would have yanked away the McDaniel designation and replaced it with some other worthy individual's name?  What if the designation was changed and a non-African-American figure was instead honored?(there are/were many worthy teachers, administrators, fallen war-hero former students, school board members, and/or others that might very well deserve this honor...many) 

But really, what would have happened? What names would we have been called if we pulled this designation?  I don't know for sure but it would have been ugly and embarrassing....Glad it didn't happen is all I'll say--because we did the right thing with that decision.

And so nobody knows how this new bridge-naming controversy will turn out.  For my part, I would like nothing better than to have to two factions work together to achieve an amicable resolution to this issue that all sides could respect. 

Because after all--if we could bring both of these men back to life and show them the bickering and machinations taking place behind these "efforts"--I believe both men would be disappointed.  They know what most of us know.

Honoring a man's service and legacy should never become fodder for controversy.......