King Way Rejection Prompts Push for San Diego Boycott

A boycott of San Diego as a convention site was urged Friday by the head of the Urban League of San Diego as a protest of Tuesday’s vote to strip the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from a downtown thoroughfare.

Herb Cawthorne, the Urban League’s president and chief executive officer, said the push to dissuade convention groups from gathering in San Diego will be nationwide and will use volunteers based in San Diego.

“The boycott is not revengeful. It is not vindictive,” Cawthorne said in a speech to the Catfish Club.

“It is rather a powerful economic means by which to demonstrate to San Diego the depth of our pain over the dishonorable deed that has been done to the image of one of God’s greatest servants.

‘Petty’ and ‘Small-Minded’

“What was done was wrong,” he said. “It was petty. It was small-minded. And we owe it to our history, to our forefathers, to our children and to the future to ensure that nothing like this ever happens in San Diego again.”

Cawthorne’s call for a boycott was criticized by Todd Firotto, head of the Keep Market Street Committee, the merchants’ group that spearheaded the drive to take King’s name off the downtown street.

The measure, Proposition F, passed with a 60% majority in Tuesday’s election, reinstating the name Market Street for the 6 1/2-mile stretch of roadway.

“It’s another element of blackmail or extortion,” Firotto said of the boycott. “They’re cutting their noses to spite their faces. They live in San Diego, too, don’t they?”

Bill Nelson, chairman of the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, said he was disappointed by the call for a boycott.

“I think in the long run it is very counterproductive because the call for the boycott has no specific goal nor does it have any timetable,” Nelson said.

“This is just like kidnaping your baby and not saying whether there is any ransom or not,” he said. “It brings discredit on the organization calling for the boycott.”

A spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor, who was out of town, expressed sympathy for the emotion behind the boycott, but stopped short of endorsing the economic action.

“She’s not condoning the boycott,” Paul Downey said. “I think she understands the feelings and the depth of anger in the community. What she’s hoping is we can come together to resolve this problem as fast as we can.”

Downey said O’Connor would introduce a resolution on Monday putting the City Council on record that it would seek another street or public structure to name after the slain civil rights leader.

Later next week, the mayor will appoint a 10- to 15-member task force to select a memorial for King, Downey said. The task force will have citywide representation, including people from Rancho Bernardo, San Ysidro and other areas of the city, along with representatives from predominantly black and Latino Southeast San Diego, he added.

For weeks leading up to Tuesday’s vote, local black leaders had warned that, if Proposition F passed, San Diego could suffer the same kind of economic sanctions now being felt by the tourism industry in Arizona. Convention officials there say the city has lost $25 million in conventions since the Arizona governor canceled a King holiday for state workers earlier this year.

Neutral Stand

But San Diego tourism officials took a neutral stand on Proposition F, reasoning that there would be no economic repercussions if the measure passed.

On Friday, a spokesman for the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau said no gatherings had been canceled in the wake of this week’s vote.

In his speech Friday, Cawthorne asked for volunteers to help with the boycott and said the Catfish Club would serve as headquarters of the effort for the next four weeks.

Cawthorne also reiterated the Urban League’s plans to hold a protest march at 3 p.m. Sunday, starting at the downtown Civic Center. Leading the procession will be a casket bearing a Martin Luther King Way street sign. Those who participate are being asked to dress in black.

Cawthorne also said that some members of the black community want the city to go slowly in renaming another King memorial until after a period of “mourning.”

“No new monument, no new memorial, no new symbol of recognition will be considered until such time as we can be assured that our dignity and pride will not be swung through the mud again,” Cawthorne said.