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[–]Nemacolin[S] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Cancel him.

Late Strom Thurmond name on U of South Carolina complex eyed By MEG KINNARD 2 hours ago

1 of 4 FILE - In this March 1, 2003, file photo, University of South Carolina students head towards the 192,000-square-foot Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center in Columbia, S.C. Some of the University of South Carolina's most prominent recent athletes are calling for the renaming of the $38.6 million complex, arguing that its namesake shouldn't be glorified for his segregationist views. (Renee Ittner-McManus/The State via AP, File) COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Some recent standouts in University of South Carolina athletics are asking the school to change the name of its showpiece fitness center, arguing that the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond shouldn’t be honored in such a way due to the segregationist views he once held.

The Presidential Commission on University History is set to receive testimony Friday on calls to rename the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center from such former South Carolina stars as Marcus Lattimore and Moe Brown in football and track and field’s Natasha Hastings.

Black student athletes are among the signatories to a memo also asking the university to remove from its campuses “the names of Confederate supporters, racists, misogynists, and those who outright advocated for the subjugation of any person’s life.”

Thurmond died in 2003 at age 100. He represented South Carolina in the U.S. Senate for 48 years, running for president in 1948 as a segregationist “Dixiecrat.” In opposing the 1957 Civil Rights Act, he staged the longest filibuster ever by a single American senator, speaking for a total of 24 hours and 18 minutes.

Not long after Thurmond’s death, a mixed-race woman whose mother was the Black maid to the Thurmonds came forward to say that she was Thurmond’s daughter. Though Thurmond never publicly recognized Essie Mae Washington-Williams as his daughter, his family ultimately acknowledged her claim.