Black Activist Urges Schools To Change Names From White Segregationist US President - Democrat

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                           

Contact Ted Hayes

424-222-6010

Ted@TedHayes.US                                                                                                                                                 

LOS ANGELES – Ted Hayes, homeless activist and host of the weekly radio talk show America’s Black Shield on WNJC 1360-AM in Philadelphia (www.wnjc1360.com), is calling for the Boards of Education and for the School Districts of Portsmouth, Virginia and Peoria, Illinois to change the names of the Woodrow Wilson High School and the Woodrow Wilson Primary School, respectively, from a white segregationist U.S. president to a name that will honor a figure in the civil rights struggle for Descendants of Chattel Slaves (African Americans).

“It amazes me that these two schools with majority African-American populations would ask their African American students to honor, to respect, and to be proud of a president who for the first time in U.S. history segregated the federal government,” says Hayes.

Hayes also says that Americans, especially African Americans, assume that Woodrow Wilson was an advocate for civil rights for African Americans.  He says it has been thoroughly documented that assumption it is not true at all.

For example, the November 30, 2009 issue of Reason Magazine reported:

“Upon taking power in Washington, Wilson and the many other Southerners he brought into his cabinet were disturbed at the way the federal government went about its own business. One legacy of post-Civil War Republican ascendancy was that Washington's large black populace had access to federal jobs, and worked with whites in largely integrated circumstances. Wilson's cabinet put an end to that, bringing Jim Crow to Washington.

“Wilson allowed various officials to segregate the toilets, cafeterias, and work areas of their departments. One justification involved health: White government workers had to be protected from contagious diseases, especially venereal diseases, that racists imagined were being spread by blacks. In extreme cases, federal officials built separate structures to house black workers. Most black diplomats were replaced by whites; numerous black federal officials in the South were removed from their posts; the local Washington police force and fire department stopped hiring blacks. Wilson's own view, as he expressed it to intimates, was that federal segregation was an act of kindness.” (http://reason.com/blog/2009/11/30/woodrow-wilsons-legacy)

Hayes also says: “Woodrow Wilson to this day is a hero to the Democratic Party, the party in which almost 90% of black people adhere to. It astounds me that this political party who claims to have always fought for civil rights for Descendants of Chattel Slaves ('For more than 200 years, our party has led the fight for civil rights…’ -- http://www.democrats.org/about/our_history) would have this white supremacist and segregationist U.S. president as a ‘hero’ today.  Why should black students regard and respect this white supremacist and segregationist as a hero?”

Hayes also says there is precedent for a name change for an educational institution from that of a racist governor of the state of California to the first African-American school principal in San Francisco in 2011 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/19/peter-burnett-school_n_864489.html)

Therefore Hayes appeals to the common sense and justice to the communities of Portsmouth and Peoria to “make it right.”

See The Woodrow Wilson Resolution at http://tedhayes.us/art_woodrow_wilson_resolution.html

Ted Hayes is a Homeless Activist, Host of America’s Black Shield on WNJC 1360-AM in Philadelphia, PA, and author of the book The Other Side of the Pyramid (http://www.amazon.com/The-Other-Side-Pyramid/dp/0615547990). Ted’s website is www.tedhayes.us. His email is ted@tedhayes.us.

# # #