What started out as an after-school project during the height of the pandemic in 2020 ended Thursday with concrete change for a Nassau County village.
Olivia Brown is a 10th grader at Malverne High School who led the push to rename the street in town called Lindner Place. Why did she and other students want it renamed? Because they learned it was named after Paul Lindner, a founding father of the village — who was also a prominent member of the Ku Klux Klan.
"I went thru history books, I went thru historical documents from the 1920’s, newspaper from back then," she said. "After doing research on who Paul Linder was, how terrible of a person he was as a Klan member, we decided to take it further. This wasn’t something where we could take the project and leave it alone."
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Students who researched Lindner found that he led cross burnings and other racists acts, and even uncovered claims that Lindner’s KKK chapter burned down a Brooklyn orphanage. So they asked the mayor to rename the street.
Malverne Mayor Keith Corbett wanted proof, so he asked the students to submit a report. Which the students did, and backed up their claims.
"There’s no way that they can say this isn’t true, we presented them with the facts and the street name was voted on to be changed," Brown said.
The street sign that had stood for decades became the focus of some community soul searching in the village. Like the battles over some statues across the nation, the debate forced the community to grapple with its past. And not everyone in the village had agreed with making this change, the students said.
"We made a lot of information public and there have been a lot of people who don’t care. They are set in their ways," said student Justin Obiol.
In 2022, the Malverne Board of Trustees unanimously voted to change the name of Lindner Place. The village settled on Acorn Way – after Malverne’s motto, "Oaks from Acorns."
"I wish a little of Malverne could spread around the rest of this country," said Corbett.
It’s a proud moment for Berlinda Meyers, a member of the Baby Boomer generation who knows firsthand how far her community has come.
"I’ve seen it right out of segregation into integration, and all the perils that come with that, but we’re here in 2023 and we’re doing OK," said Meyers.
