Malcolm X Street Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

May 7 1991

Location: 

Portland OR

At a time when the city of Portland was considering stripping Martin Luther King Jr.'s name off a local street, a covert organization calling itself Group X changed the name of another downtown street to Malcolm X Street in a clandestine overnight action.

External sources: 

https://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/media.php?NumObjet=1785
Posted by Andy Bichlbaum on Feb 9 2021

Staff rating: 

0

Effectiveness

How does this project help?

Amplifies (issue or campaign)Brings public and political attention to an issue or campaign.  Can include prefigurative action, making the invisible visible.

Timeframe For change

This project seems to be part of a campaign with a clear short-term goal. Short-term goals tend to be things like: create or repeal a law; get a President impeached; make the city administration repair a sidewalk. A campaign with a short-term goal needs a clear theory of change, complete with targets that can be cajoled or pressured into effecting the goal.
Oppose local racist objections to MLK street

Notes

By getting the "joke" name-change covered in the local mainstream media, activists drew attention to the absurdity of the actual name-change campaign—and hinted at the underlying racial issues.