My opinion, for anyone interested, is go ahead and change it. It’ll be a logistical headache for everyone on that street because it’s one of the longest streets in Worcester. But do it anyway, because what’s the point in arguing against it? You’re just going to sound racist because you’re arguing to keep something that someone else said is a racist thing. So now it’s this weird fucking stand-off between people with no proof that it’s racist and people with no proof that it’s not racist. So it just become another thing to yell about. So just change it. My suggestion to the city council would be to change it quickly with zero fanfare and pageantry. An affirmative vote by the council with no discussion should take 5 seconds. And move on and be done with it. Moreover, although I give flaccid support to the change I’ll offer that the word plantation in this context is not a reference to old southern slave plantations as is the stated reason from the petition. In this case plantation is derivative from “Quinsigamond plantation” which was the former village that Worcester used to be. That village was an English settlement which was burned to the ground during the king Philip war. So if we are to be offended by the name of plantation street, it’s not due to the history of racism suffered by African-Americans it is actually the atrocities carried out by the English settlers against the natives. So, although the petition seeks to change the name of the street because of the country’s history, it’s actually more appropriate to cite the actual history of Worcester. I doubt the Nipmuc tribes or Wampanoags were asked about the change.