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Commissioner wants building named after civil rights figure
Posted: 02.07.2011 at 8:47 PM
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The City Commission is expected to consider naming a city building after civil rights figure, Johnnie Johnson
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The City Commission is expected to consider naming a city building after civil rights figure, Johnnie Johnson

ALBANY, GA -- The City Commission is expected to consider naming a city building after civil rights figure, Johnnie Johnson.

The front runner to bear Johnson’s name is the Albany Law Enforcement Center.

City commissioner Tommie Postell is asking the commission to consider naming the police building in honor of the local civil rights figure.

“He deserves some recognition for him and his family because he did spearhead some activities that no one else did,” said Postell.

Those activities in 1974 came in the form of a lawsuit filed by Johnson against the city of Albany - which helped level the pay scale between black and white workers.

“With the courageousness of my father, he sacrificed his livelihood, he sacrificed his family so that blacks can be treated equal and live better lives here in the city,” said Yaz Johnson, Johnnie Johnson’s son.

Yaz Johnson has been trying since 2003 to get his father’s name memorialized on a building.

“This is something that is truly long overdue. I'm just excited to see it on the table and even more excited to get something done,” said Yaz Johnson.

The law enforcement center isn't the only building on the table for renaming. Several years ago Yaz Johnson went to the Dougherty County Commission asking them to rename the central services building after his father. But this building is owned by the county not the city, and Yaz Johnson was turned away and told that the county has a policy against naming buildings after people.

Johnson says he is open to other suggestions, but says his father laid a strong foundation for others and his name deserves to go on a prominent building.

“It would mean so much to me as well as to my family, because my father died and never received the recognition while he was living,” said Yaz Johnson.

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