KBWI to possible be renamed

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Lawmakers Urged to Rename BWI Airport
Mar 29, 3:28 AM (ET)
By TOM STUCKEY

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The widow of Thurgood Marshall joined those
urging lawmakers to rename Baltimore-Washington Airport in honor of
her husband, the nation's first black Supreme Court justice.

Though the state House approved a bill to add Marshall's name to the
airport, it has stalled in the Senate. Some members think the change
would hurt Maryland's efforts to market the airport as a gateway to
Washington as well as Baltimore.

"I think it's important to keep his name up there so people will
remember his legacy," Cecilia Marshall said Monday. Despite her late
husband's achievements in bringing an end to legal segregation in the
United States, she said "there's so much work left to be done."

Supporters brought Marshall's widow to Annapolis to put pressure on
the state Senate to approve the bill.

Sen. Paula Hollinger said she doesn't know what will happen in her
committee, but had an open mind.

"I think we should name something major for him," Hollinger said.
However, she said, it might be more appropriate to name something
related to the court system to honor his achievements as a lawyer and
the first black justice appointed to the Supreme Court.

But Delegate Emmett Burns, the bill's sponsor, said supporters would
not settle for anything less than renaming the airport in honor of
Marshall.

"We are told we may lose the competitive edge if we put the name
Thurgood Marshall on the marquee. Isn't that strange?" Burns said at a
rally before evening sessions of the Senate and House of Delegates.

"They didn't stop flying into Reagan National" when the airport
serving the nations' capital was renamed to honor the former
president, Burns said.

Marshall, a Baltimore native, helped argue the Brown v. Board of
Education lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court declaring that school
segregation was unconstitutional. He was a federal judge and solicitor
general of the United States before his high court appointment.

Some southern states have added the names of black leaders to their
airports. Mississippi's largest airport was named in honor of civil
rights activist Medgar Evers, and New Orleans renamed its airport the
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in 2001.

Two years ago, Atlanta officials voted to honor the city's first black
mayor, Maynard Jackson, by renaming its airport Hartsfield-Jackson
International.

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On the Net: http://www.bwiairport.com

BL.
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