WALK THE HIGH ROAD: CAMOUFLAGING RACISM AND THE FLORIDA EXPERIENCE ALONG DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BOUVELARD By STEVEN FENTON SPINA A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2011 1 © 2011 Steven Fenton Spina 2 In recognition of the street naming pioneers featured in this dissertation: James and Joanna Tokley and their compatriots in Tampa Charles Smith for his efforts in Palmetto Irene Dobson and her neighbors in Zephyrhills LeRoy Boyd and Movement for Change in Pensacola. Without their courage and conviction, change would not have been realized. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my dissertation committee comprised of Dr. Sharon Austin, Dr. Larry Dodd, Dr. Stephanie Evans, Dr. David Hedge and Dr. Lynn Leverty for their guidance, patience and scholarly insights to this work. To my wife, Judy, who has believed in this project and supported me through the years of completing this dream of mine, and I recognize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose long shadow is cast upon these pages and who inspired this project. His words below contribute to the title and ideals put forth within this dissertation. We can choose either to walk the high road of human brotherhood or to tread the low road of man‟s inhumanity to man. History has thrust upon our generation an indescribably important destiny – to complete a process of democratization which our nation has too long developed too slowly. The future of America is bound up in the present crisis. If America is to remain a first-class nation, it cannot have a second-class citizenship. Martin Luther King Jr. 1959 Stride Toward Freedom 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 8 One Giant Step Forward, Three Baby Steps Backward ............................................ 9 The Politics of a Street Naming .............................................................................. 13 Issues Facing Government Leaders ....................................................................... 15 Case Studies .......................................................................................................... 17 Hypotheses – An Overview ..................................................................................... 18 Historic Vote ........................................................................................................... 20 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.................................................................................. 24 Resentment ............................................................................................................ 27 Racial Boundaries ................................................................................................... 30 Similar Reactions .................................................................................................... 31 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 31 3 TAMPA: CRITICAL RACE THEORY .......................................................................... 35 Getting Started ........................................................................................................ 35 Minority Status ........................................................................................................ 36 Rearranging the Furniture ....................................................................................... 37 Black versus White ................................................................................................. 39 Pirate versus King ................................................................................................... 40 Racial Attitudes of the Time .................................................................................... 42 Arguments on Buffalo Avenue: Voices of Opposition ............................................ 45 Social Distance ....................................................................................................... 48 4 PALMETTO: SYSTEMIC RACISM ............................................................................. 50 Recognizing King .................................................................................................... 50 Minutes and Debates .............................................................................................. 51 Sunshine Violation Allegations ................................................................................ 53 State Attorney: Law Was Broken ............................................................................ 55 New Street Name? ................................................................................................. 56 No Easy Road ......................................................................................................... 57 Systemic Racism .................................................................................................... 58 No Representation .................................................................................................. 59 5 5 ZEPHYRHILLS: MUNICIPAL EXCLUSION ................................................................ 62 Silent No More ........................................................................................................ 62 The Idea of a Street Change ................................................................................... 62 How Sixth Avenue Was Selected ........................................................................... 64 The Zephyrhills Experience .................................................................................... 67 Finding Solutions .................................................................................................... 69 Municipal Exclusion and Underbounding ................................................................ 71 Remnants Remain .................................................................................................. 74 6 PENSACOLA: MINORITY REPRESENTATION ........................................................ 76 Movement for Change ............................................................................................ 76 The Pensacola Experience ..................................................................................... 79 Multiple Votes ......................................................................................................... 80 Change in Tactics ................................................................................................... 81 Voices of Opposition Remain .................................................................................. 83 Compromise and Change ....................................................................................... 85 Alcaniz and King Revisited ..................................................................................... 87 Justice ..................................................................................................................... 87 7 CONCLUSION AND FINDINGS ................................................................................. 91 Overt Racism .......................................................................................................... 91 Covert Reasoning ................................................................................................... 92 White Resistance .................................................................................................... 94 Racism Uncovered ................................................................................................. 96 Level Playing Field .................................................................................................. 97 Why Not Us? ........................................................................................................... 98 The African American Point of View ..................................................................... 100 The Push for Equal Footing .................................................................................. 102 Modern Day Examples.......................................................................................... 104 Economic Fear ...................................................................................................... 106 But is it Racism? ................................................................................................... 108 Coded and Isolated ............................................................................................... 111 Camouflaged and Invisible .................................................................................... 112 Difficult to Define ................................................................................................... 114 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 117 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 125 6 Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements