City of Minneapolis, MN Press Conferences, 17 Mar 2022

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From YouTube: March 17, 2022 Street renamed Cheatham Ave to honor life of City's first Black fire captain

Description

Community leaders celebrated the official renaming of Dight Avenue to Cheatham Avenue in south Minneapolis this morning to honor the legacy of John Cheatham, who became the first Black fire captain with the Minneapolis Fire Department in 1899 and is believed to be the City’s first Black firefighter.

A

Three two one: this is indeed a beautiful day, an official street renaming, and in fact what we're doing is writing history. The way it should have been written to begin with.

B

Captain john cheatham stood up at a time when he faced tremendous racism and oppression to serve this community with honor and to protect the residents of this community.

C

We have saint james amy church, where every sunday they had to look at dyed avenue. Thank you for staying, steady and asking for the name change. We are lifting up the name of john.

D

Cheatham and I'm so pleased to see all of his family members out here today uh to share in this celebration.

A

We're not just talking about the first black firefighter we're not talking about the first black fire captain anymore. We now have a black fire chief, who we are extraordinarily proud of in chief.

D

Tyner before captain cheatham there was no black captains and now, as the mayor said, we have a black chief. So continuing that tradition, continuing that progress is what I will strive to do, because I know that I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me and captain john cheatham is certainly a big set of shoulders for me to stand on.

B

This community is a welcoming, loving, compassionate place, so it's a good day because we're taking that name down, but it is a better day because of the name we are putting up.

B