VALDOSTA — The son of a prominent Valdosta civil rights activist is trying to start a branch of a national rights group in the city and plans to speak to city council Thursday.

Gerald Rose, founder of the New Order National Human Rights Organization and the son of the Rev. Floyd Rose, said he expects a branch of the group to start in Valdosta “very soon.” He founded New Order in 1992 in Toledo, Ohio, later moving the headquarters to Atlanta.

“We are not a radical organization,” he said. “We are very peaceful. … We are not here to be seen or to be on-camera, but to find solutions.”

The group’s website says New Order helps defend people whose rights have been violated, including “harassment, racial profiling, and favoritism in their work environment.”

Rose intends to speak to Valdosta City Council during its Thursday meeting on the subject of renaming a local street.

The People’s Tribunal, a local activist group, submitted a petition to the council last year to rename Forrest Street. The civil rights group says the road was named after Ku Klux Klan founder and Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. The tribunal wants the street named after former President Barack Obama.

The Rev. Floyd Rose, a tribunal member, said the People’s Tribunal followed city procedures for name-changing a street but the city changed a key rule involving the number of signatures at the last moment.

After a contentious back-and-forth with Mayor John Gayle during the May 23 council meeting, the Rev. Rose exceeded the three minutes of time allotted during the public comment period. 

The mayor asked Rev. Rose to yield the floor, but when he didn’t, police escorted the 80-year-old man out of council chambers. He left peacefully and will not face any charges, Valdosta Police Chief Leslie Manahan said.

The younger Rose supports the name change.

“Obama made history (as the first African-American president) but was not honored around here,” he said.

He mentioned the time in the early 2000s when there was a push to rename the city’s Barber Park because of accusations the man it was named for, Ola Barber Pittman, was racist. The park was eventually named John W. Saunders Memorial Park, honoring the first African-American county extension agent appointed in Lowndes County.

Gerald Rose said he will hold a public speaking event 2 p.m. Friday, June 21, at Southside Recreation Center.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.