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Calls Grow To Remove Melvin Hazen's Name From D.C. Park Due To Racist Past

In the early 1900s, Melvin Hazen was a powerful man in Washington, D.C., government. Hazen was instrumental in preserving parkland and advocated for D.C. self-governance. He even helped choose the design for the D.C. flag.

But that history also included pursuing policies that displaced Black residents from areas white people lived or wanted to live.

As Jacob Fenston of WAMU reports, there’s an effort to change some National Parks Service trails and parks that bear Hazen’s name.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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