A.G. Gancarski
A Change.Org petition seeks to remove the name of Corrine Brown from a regional transportation center in Gainesville.
Brown, who is headed to prison for five years after being convicted on 18 felony counts in a fraud case this year, once represented Gainesville — and pushed for the appropriation for the center named after her.
However, some Gainesville area residents find it incongruous to have a public building named after a convicted felon.
“In a time when monuments around our great nation are being systematically removed and history erased, so should the memory of a convicted criminals in our government,” reads the petition, which goes on to compare Brown to Florida Gators footballer-turned-murderer Aaron Hernandez.
The assertion: “Just as the University of Florida removed Aaron Hernandez’s name, statue, and plaque from it’s campus, war memorials have been removed and as such, so should we remove Ms Brown’s.”
“The excuse that she has done many good works cannot be justification. Hernandez played good football at UF… but it was not justified and was removed,” the copy continues.
“What else has Ms Brown gotten away with over the years that we are unaware of? It is safe to say once a criminal mind, there are probably others,” the petition asserts.
3 comments
seber newsome III
December 22, 2017 at 12:30 pm
Yes remove her name from everything. If they are allowed to remove statues and memorials to my ancestors, who were Confederate Soldiers and owned no slaves, then everything to do with the felon Corrine Brown should be removed and erased.
Christopher M. Kennard
December 22, 2017 at 8:14 pm
The basis for which we decide to honor someone or any time we review the foundation of the honor we (the public) bestow upon them, particularly elected public officials who serve in their public office solely on behalf of the people of our nation, state or locality, must rest upon the facts of each case, with a general understanding that we do not honor those who are corrupt.
I do not believe that a comparison between Confederate leaders or generals being properly retained for public view (in appropriate museums, for instance), and the naming of a public building after someone who was found grossly corrupt while serving as an elected public official, is an accurate pairing or comparison in this matter.
The Civil War was a time of upheaval, heated passions flamed by those who acted irresponsibly and immorally by enslaving people — men, women, children. Not all who fought for the South supported slavery, a distinction claimed by a one person writing here as a descendant, which is accurate. Not all who engaged in slavery were southerns, as well. I have one ancestor who fled Haiti when the people used as slaves arose to cast off the chains and banish those guilty of condoning or supporting slavery. My ancestor ended up in Maine, bringing with him eight individuals still held as slaves prior to the Civil War.
However, this history (including those “odd” contextual facts such as northern slave owners like my ancestor, of whom I am not particularly proud to have recently discovered in my family tree) ought to be taught and shared with our children in proper context, in school and history books and our museums and monuments of yesteryear. as viewed today.
The unfortunate connection to RTS with corrupt pubic officials has me recalling the period of time when well-known people who were “allegedly engaged” in racist and discriminatory behavior were also engaged in managing the RTS system in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. These worthy souls somehow “disappeared” a very tidy sum of money over several years . . . as much as a million dollars . . . much of which allegedly went to pay the way for candidates approved by the good ole boys who ran North Central Florida at the time to “win” local, county, state and federal elections.
It took a biracial group of union members to expose this theft and discriminatory behavior in the local public employment sector. They consequently earned and gathered the support of the community when exposing this corruption in our midst.
I was proud to be the union president of the men and women who comprised the ATU Local 1579 who earned the respect and appreciation of many within the community, for speaking out and ending such behavior and loss of public funds.
seber newsome III
December 22, 2017 at 8:56 pm
We can debate all day about the causes of the War of Northern Aggression. Monument and memorials were put up to honor soldiers, not slavery or lost causes. There were slaves in Northern states and there are monuments and memorials to Union Soldiers, but, you do not see them coming down , do you? If you really want to learn about history, lookup “Devils punchbowl in Natchez, Mississippi. The United States government (Union Soldiers) killed tens of thousands of freed black slaves in concentration camps. They begged to let them go back home to the plantation, but they would not let them. The men were used for hard labor by the Union Army and the women and children were not fed or given water. They gave them shovels to bury each other in the deep ravine with concrete walls surrounding them. Learn about history.
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