New York City Democrats plan to host a protest Tuesday in Brooklyn outside of Fort Hamilton to pressure the U.S. Army to rename two streets named after Confederate generals.
According to The Brooklyn Eagle, the protest in John Paul Jones Park, led by New York Democratic Rep. Yvette Clark and joined by fellow New York Democratic Reps. Nydia Velázquez, and Hakeem Jeffries, is scheduled to happen outside the main gate of Fort Hamilton where demonstrators will demand the Army change the names of the streets inside the fort: General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive.
During the 1840s, 20 years before the Civil War, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were posted at Fort Hamilton.
Clarke has previously demanded the renaming of the streets located in her Brooklyn district but the Army rejected her request.
According to NY’s WTKR, senior Army official Diane Randon told Clarke the Army sees “the significance and sensitivity of the issue,” but said renaming the streets would be “controversial and divisive … contrary to the nation’s original intent in naming these streets, which was the spirit of reconciliation.” (RELATED: Cuomo Calls For Purge Of Confederate References In NYC)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also called on the Army last week to change the names of the Brooklyn streets.