Long Island street named for New York Ku Klux Klan leader Paul Lindner is renamed Acorn Way
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Long Island street named after New York’s Ku Klux Klan is FINALLY renamed after high school students demanded wealthy banker’s name be removed
- A street that honored a Ku Klux Klan leader in New York has a new name
- New York has recently removed some KKK symbols, including at West Point
- Their KKK affiliations led students at the local school to push for change.
A street that honored a Ku Klux Klan leader in New York has been renamed after a years-long campaign led by high school students.
The Malverne, Long Island town board voted last year to rename Lindner Place after Paul Lindner (pictured), a banker who helped develop the town more than a century ago and also served as a great titan of the New York State Klan.
The Long Island town board of Malverne voted last year to rename Lindner Place, named after Paul Lindner, a banker who helped develop the town more than a century ago and also served as a great titan of the New York State Klan.
The change became official last week when Lindner Place became Acorn Way.
“The true meaning of justice is righting the wrongs that came before you,” Olivia Brown, Malverne High School sophomore. he told WCBS.
Brown was part of a group of students who began investigating Lindner in 2020 and discovered that he was a Klan leader.
While KKK and Confederate symbols are largely associated in the South, there have been moves to remove some scattered in the North, including at West Point Military Academy in New York.
The unveiling was led by the village’s mayor, Keith Corbett, who climbed on one last to cut and unwrap the yellow and pink cover to reveal the new name.
“We are a community where any child of any color of skin, of any religion, of any ethnicity is given the tools in this school district and the tools in this town to ensure that they can truly achieve anything,” Corbett said.
Students lobbied for the street name to be changed in school forums and with the town council, which voted to change the name in September 2022.
The name Acorn Way comes from the official motto of the town of Malverne, which is ‘Acorn Oaks’.
The street, appropriately, houses both the primary school and a public library.
That elementary school was, in fact, formerly called Lindner Place School, before changing its name in 2011.
A former teacher at that school, Francine Stopfer, felt the new name made perfect sense.
“Acorns are the perfect example of something you plant and it flourishes,” he said. ‘That’s what we hope the children will expand on.’
A street formerly called Lindner Place (pictured left) that honored a Ku Klux Klan leader in New York has been renamed Acorn Way (pictured right) after a years-long campaign led by students from secondary
The Malverne, Long Island town board voted last year to rename Lindner Place after Paul Lindner, a banker who helped develop the town more than a century ago and also served as a great Klan titan. of the state of New York.
The unveiling was led by the town’s mayor, Keith Corbett, who climbed on one last to cut and unwrap the yellow and pink cover to reveal the new name.
Jamila Smith, a senior at Malverne High School, told WCBS, “This whole initiative showed me that I want to step up and be a leader.”
Lorna Lewis, Malverne Schools Superintendent, told the Long Island Herald, ‘I think you’ve just witnessed the power of Maverick Public Education and what our students can do when supported in their pursuit of civic engagement.’
Opponents of the name change wanted the Lindner name used as a teaching tool.
Many Americans associate the Ku Klux Klan with the South, but the group’s rallies and cross burnings drew large crowds in New York in the 1920s.
The Klan of that time targeted the Catholic and Jewish communities, as well as blacks.