New Jersey town votes to rename Kennedy Center after President Obama, citizens divided
Willingboro Township Council officials in New Jersey voted to rename the Kennedy Center as the President Obama Center. The move, detailed in the Aug. 9 article on the Burlington County Times, has created a mixed reaction by the citizens.
Council member Nathaniel Anderson stated that a resident said the title is needed to remind future generations that Obama was the first black president of the United States. Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Jennings, whose idea it was to rename the center, recalled the excitement in Willingboro when Obama ran for office and was elected to Philly.com
photo donkeyhotey donkeyhotey.wordpress.com
“I think that people have a sense of pride about him. . . . We had so many new people register to vote, people who had never voted before, people who were disenfranchised,” Jennings said Wednesday. “All of a sudden, we had maybe 8,000 people register to vote. We had lines . . . people wrapping around the buildings when the polls opened. It was a sense of history, everybody wanted to be a part of it.”
“The vote in 2008 . . . was change for us. It gave us, as African Americans, the opportunity to believe in those dreams that our forefathers sought. For us to be able to live in that historical moment and then have this president reelected, it means a lot,” Anderson said.
The $4.9 million project to renovate and remodel parts of the center began two years ago, and is funded through a municipal bond. The banquet hall and auditorium are being remodeled in the hope that the center will be able to bring in more revenue for the township, Anderson said.
Not everyone shares the positive thoughts on the name change.
