Tommy Hazouri attacked for not voting for Forrest High name change in 2008

We’ve written before about Mincy Pollock‘s challenge to Tommy Hazouri in the At Large Group 3 Jacksonville City Council race. As we saw at the Tiger Bay forum some weeks back, when Pollock said that Hazouri was his “grandma’s favorite mayor”, the younger Democrat upstart clearly sees his road to victory as running through the venerable Hazouri, and today Pollock was at it again on his Facebook page, where he posted the following: “It’s sad that on the 50th anniversary of ‪#‎bloodysunday‬ we still have so much work to do. I was really disappointed to find out that one of the candidates in my race voted against changing the name of this school. Did you know that? ‪#‎SELMA50‬.”

Pollock was referring to a 2008 vote that Hazouri had cast against changing the name of Nathan B. Forrest High School, when the former Jacksonville Mayor was serving on the Duval County School Board. He provided a link to an article, in which Hazouri is quoted as saying that it was uncertain “who the real Forrest is.”

Forrest, a Confederate civil war general, was instrumental in the founding of the Ku Klux Klan after the end of the Civil War.

Pollock, an African-American, takes umbrage to Hazouri’s 2008 vote, and issued a lengthy written statement to that effect.

As an African American and a native of Jacksonville, I was disappointed when I found out that the other Democrat in my race failed to show true leadership at a moment when it really mattered.

In November of 2008, the Duval County School Board was asked to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School (a school with a majority of black students) by a group of concerned citizens.

Nathan Bedford Forrest made his money as a plantation owner and slave trader, importing slaves long after it was legal. He was a Confederate General and it is rumored that he gave the order for black prisoners to be massacred after a Confederate victory at Tennessee’s Fort Pillow in 1864.

In 1867 the Ku Klux Klan elected Forrest its honorary Grand Wizard. What more reason did he need to decide that this name needed to be changed?

Despite the endorsements he’s received from progressive and equality-minded organizations like Equality Florida, Northeast Florida LGBT Leadership PAC and others, he doesn’t seem like the most progressive or equality-minded candidate in this race.

When asked why he made the decision he replied that it is difficult to know “who the real Forrest is”. I don’t think there are many members of the African American community that have much doubt about who the “real Forrest” was, and I’m glad the name ended up being changed.

But, the decision he made at the moment when it was most important tells me that he’s not the right candidate for this seat. On this 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday it seems appropriate to bring this controversial decision to light.

There’s still a lot of work to be done for us here in the Bold City of Jacksonville. The first step is replacing old leaders that make decisions based on political convenience with new leaders that are sensitive to the issues that affect ALL of its citizens.

We reached out to Hazouri; he declined comment on this statement, and the historic controversy it addresses.

The name has since been changed to Westside High School.