A new bill proposed this week by two Republican Tennessee state House members would rename a stretch of Nashville’s 5th Avenue that in 2021 was named John Lewis Way in honor of the late great civil rights leader and congressman to “President Donald Trump Blvd” in honor of the still-living racist and twice-impeached failure who lost the 2020 election, WKRN reports.
It’s just a short stretch, only 0.2 miles, raising the question of why the fuck the Republicans couldn’t just find another, longer street to rename. The portion is adjacent to the state Capitol, but wouldn’t change the mailing address, which since 2018 is 600 Martin Luther King Blvd. Both the MLK and John Lewis streets were named by the local Dem-run Metro Nashville Council. After the Lewis street was dedicated in 2021, state Republicans retaliated by naming the street in front of the council’s offices President Ronald Reagan Way and another street after former Senator Lamar Alexander.
Of course we can’t have nice things. A mildly funny trolling war has to turn ugly and they have to erase John Lewis’s name from part of the street where he organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters and replace it with a vile racist who we’re not sure has ever even visited Nashville.