National Roundup

Colorado
Neighborhood drops name with ties to KKK

DENVER (AP) — A Denver neighborhood has voted to change its name after a yearslong debate over its association with a former mayor who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Stapleton residents voted Saturday to rebrand the neighborhood as Central Park, The Denver Post reported. Central Park, an ode to the green space that runs through the area, beat “Skyview” in the final round of voting by community members, earning 63% of the more than 5,800 votes cast.

“It’s our sincere hope that each one of us ... treats this moment with fresh eyes and a common goal to treat each other with kindness, compassion and respect,” said Amanda Allshouse, the president of the board of Stapleton United Neighbors.

The neighborhood was named for Benjamin F. Stapleton and was built on the site of the former Stapleton International Airport. Stapleton was Denver’s mayor for 20 years between 1923 and 1947.

More than 65% of voting property owners opted to retain the Stapleton name in a referendum last summer. But the death of George Floyd and the ensuing unrest renewed the debate.

Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck while he was handcuffed and lying on the ground. His death prompted protests across the U.S. and around the world against police brutality and racial injustice.

JuJu Nkrumah has been fighting to change the neighborhood’s name since the 1990s, before people had even moved in. She long avoided going to the area, viewing the name as a slap in the face to Black people such as her.

“I give thanks and appreciation to my ancestors,” Nkrumah said. “I’m so sorry they had to live with that in their face for so long. It’s finally going to be over.”

Walker Stapleton, the great-grandson of the former mayor, tweeted in June that he was disappointed the democratic process represented by previous resident votes was being overlooked.

But Walker Stapleton — a former gubernatorial candidate and state treasurer — said he supported the name change if it “brings more equity, fairness and opportunity” for Denver residents and Colorado residents of color.

Wisconsin
New justice sworn in during ultramarathon

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — New Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky has finished her 100-mile (161-kilometer) ultramarathon after being sworn in mid-run.

Karofsky, who finished the run Sunday, was sworn in around 1 p.m. Saturday at the 35-mile marker of her route in south-central Wisconsin. State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Dallet administered the oath of office in Basco.

Karofsky began running Saturday at 6 a.m. WMTV-TV reports the run took her about 34 hours to complete.

Karofsky shared an image of herself at mile 99 on Twitter around 3 p.m. Sunday.

The liberal-leaning Karofsky defeated incumbent Daniel Kelly in April to narrow the court’s conservative majority to 4-3.

Mississippi
Lawyer thanked for work for state’s 1st Black troopers

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An attorney is being honored for her work that forced the Mississippi Highway Patrol to hire its first Black troopers nearly a half century ago.

In January 1970, Constance Slaughter-Harvey became the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Mississippi law school. Just over six months later, she filed a lawsuit that led to African Americans being hired as troopers.

Walter Crosby, Lewis Younger and R.O. Williams became the first African-Americans to wear the Mississippi Highway Patrol uniform in 1972. During a ceremony Thursday in Jackson, Williams and other people applauded Slaughter-Harvey, WLBT-TV reported.

“We’re here to say thank you to Connie for her years of service, her dedication,” Williams said. “It was her tenacity, her skills, her dedication and dislike for the Highway Patrol that got us here today.”
Slaughter-Harvey said she acted as “an instrument of God” to start the change at the Highway Patrol, and the original three Black troopers were “instruments to execute the change.”

“I can’t think of any other task as great as the task that they accepted, especially during those days, when the Highway Patrol represented the state arm of the Ku Klux Klan,” she said.

A retired Missouri state trooper, Charles Jackson, presented a trophy to Slaughter-Harvey.

“You go to Proverbs 31 chapter, verse 8 and 9, it says, ‘Those who have the voice are charged to speak up for those who are voiceless.’ ... What you did here opened the doors for us in Missouri and across the nation,” Jackson said. “If it had not happened here, I’m not sure whether any of us would be standing today.”

New York
State gives child abuse survivors more time to sue

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — People who were sexually abused as children will have more time to file legal claims under a new state law against individuals and public and private institutions after concerns that the pandemic was keeping survivors from coming forward.

Advocates and survivors had been pressing for an extension of the Child Victims Act amid the shutdown and disruption caused by the virus, including the closure of courts. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday he signed the latest extension of Aug. 14, 2021, for the legislation.

The law lifted the statute of limitations even for allegations that were decades old, initially for a filing period of one year. New York’s law allows individuals to file civil lawsuits for childhood sexual abuse before they reach 55 years of age.

“After fighting for the law’s passage for 13 long years, many feared the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the courts meant that the clock had run out on their opportunity to seek justice,” Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, a Democrat said.

The original deadline for those making claims under the Child Victims Act was Aug. 14, 2020. Cuomo initially moved the deadline to Jan. 14 with an executive order, and the new extension would extend it to Aug. 14.