Oklahoma councilwoman: Rename street honouring ex-KKK member
NORMAN, Okla. — A city councilwoman is asking homeowners in an Oklahoma college town to rename a street honouring a prominent former university professor and Ku Klux Klan member.
Norman Councilwoman Breea Clark has posted an online petition asking residents to help change the name of DeBarr Avenue. If at least three-fourths of Norman homeowners agree, the city — home to the University of Oklahoma — would be among several cities nationwide renaming monuments and streets named after prominent KKK members.
“I’m not trying to hide from our past . but we don’t have to honour that past with street names,” Clark, who works at the university, told the Oklahoman newspaper (http://bit.ly/2nX2TGv ).
The block-long street honours Edwin DeBarr, one of the university’s first professors and founder of its chemistry department. DeBarr became a grand dragon in the KKK while at the school, and regents forced him out in 1923 because of his Klan involvement.