No clear consensus on Confederate names
Published 8:14 pm Tuesday, September 25, 2018
By Ken Stickney
The Port Arthur school board, weighing whether to rename two public elementary schools that bear the names of Confederate heroes, received a variety of reactions from citizens attending Tuesday night’s meeting but no clear consensus.
Of eight speakers who addressed board members during a 30-minute public hearing, one preferred to keep the present names, three urged that the Confederate names be replaced and some speakers said they did not see name changes as a compelling issue.
Among suggested names for new schools were Alfred Z. McElroy Elementary, in honor of the first black school board member; and George Sims, a former Port Arthur superintendent.
The Rev. Thurman Bill Bartie, a former judge, read prepared remarks in favor of replacing the name of former Confederate Lt. Dick Dowling at a school bearing his name at Port Acres. Dowling, defender at Sabine Pass, led some 40 men with a handful of cannons who turned back a large Union invasion on Sept. 8, 1863.
That Confederate victory was much heralded by the Confederacy in the wake of Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. A park at Sabine Pass honors Dowling and that Confederate victory.
Bartie made an impassioned plea for changing the name of the newly built school to Alfred Z. McElroy Elementary to honor the former soldier, educator, school board member and school board president and pivotal figure during desegregation of Port Arthur schools. McElroy taught and coached at Abraham Lincoln High School.
McElroy’s son, Austin, drove from Baytown to the meeting Tuesday, and rose to laud the memory of his father, who died 28 years ago.
“That man loved Port Arthur,” McElroy’s second son said. “He loved the school system.”
He said his father promoted education for all Port Arthur children, and his family was “honored he was being considered.”
Port Arthur schools alum Maria Block said she didn’t see the name change as having much impact on students, but offered two names, among them George Sims, a former superintendent.
Longtime resident Donald Dale suggested the school board had already decided to change the names, but said he preferred they stay the same.
“History is something we should learn from,” he said. “Not even God can change the past.”
The Rev. Kalan Gardner of the local NAACP made an impassioned plea for board members to get “on the right side of history.” He said the Confederate leaders for whom the two local schools are named — Dowling and Gen. Robert E. Lee — benefited from the slave trade and that their names ought to be removed from public schools, street signs and other places of public honor.
Greg Richard took care to tell board members he had been the first to suggest name changes in 2005, and referred to Dowling and Lee as “tyrants.” He said he had initially offered the names of Barbara Jacket and McElroy for alternatives for school names.
Jaylon Gasper, NAACP Youth Council president, said Confederate names have been affixed to public buildings “to promote racism,” and ought to be removed.
Leon Wright, manager at “The Breeze” radio station, told board members the name controversy was not as important as lifting student test scores. Outside the meeting, he said the first thing that Middle East terror groups did in places like Afghanistan and Iraq was knock down monuments “but oppression has not changed.”
Superintendent Mark Porterie said Monday that the board would neither discuss possible name changes in public at Tuesday’s hearing nor vote on the matter.
After the last speaker, they moved directly to the next agenda item.
