The City Of Boston's Public Improvement Commission voted unanimously today to approve
John Henry's petition to
change the name of 'Yawkey Way' to its original name of 'Jersey Street'. The vote was immediately condemned by representatives of the Yawkey Foundation:
"As we have said throughout this process, the effort to expunge Tom Yawkey’s name has been based on a false narrative about his life and his historic 43-year ownership of the Red Sox. The drastic step of renaming the street, now officially sanctioned by the city of Boston (and contradicting the honor the city bestowed upon Tom Yawkey over 40 years ago), will unfortunately give lasting credence to that narrative and unfairly tarnish his name." Red Sox principal owner Henry, who has implied that allegations that the former owner was a racist had a detrimental impact on the image of the franchise stated,
"I am still haunted by what went on here a long time before we arrived." The fact is that the Red Sox
were the last major league franchise to integrate, but the Foundation believes the good done by the Yawkeys (over $300 million in support for Boston-area community organizations) outweighs that negative stain on his legacy. Undoubtedly, this result will spark even more controversy over these issues.
