Rogue Renaming Planned For ‘Sonny Carson Street'

Defiant community leaders will gather Saturday in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn to unveil a new street sign bearing the name of Sonny Carson, a radical black activist who described himself as "anti-white."

The renegade renaming comes nearly three weeks after the City Council voted down the proposal during a heated and racially charged hearing at City Hall. Council Member Charles Barron, a Democrat of Brooklyn, and his chief of staff, Viola Plummer, will attend the event.

Ms. Plummer has been under fire since saying "if it takes an assassination" she would prevent Council Member Leroy Comrie, a Democrat of Queens, from becoming the next president of Queens. The comments came immediately after Mr. Comrie abstained from a vote on the street sign, a move Ms. Viola viewed as an affront to the Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus.

Tomorrow's renaming will be the second attempt by Carson supporters to honor his memory despite not receiving official approvals from the city. On Memorial Day, Mr. Barron and others unveiled a sign at Linden Park in Brooklyn with his name. The sign was taken down by the city Department of Parks and Recreation.

Mr. Barron is quick to point out that the local community board approved the proposal to rename four blocks of Gates Avenue before it was blocked in the council.

"No one is going to tell us who our heroes can and can't be," he said yesterday. "We are not going to let the white members of the City Council to tell us no."

Mr. Barron, who has been the target of death threats himself, said the event would be peaceful. The December 12 Movement, of which Ms. Plummer is chairwoman, is helping to organize the event. The group, which characterizes itself as a human rights organization, reportedly supports President Mugabe of Zimbabwe, whom international officials have accused of human rights violations.

Police department officials said there would be officers on the scene.