From VANN R. NEWKIRK II

Juneteenth Returns to Its Roots

The Atlantic:

“Memory, however, is powerful enough to expose myth. And memory is the purpose of Juneteenth. “

“In 2019, Juneteenth will be celebrated as emancipation was in the old days: with calls for reparations. As the country marks 154 years since news of the end of slavery belatedly came to Texas, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the subject of reparations for black Americans. It is a watershed moment in the larger debate over American policy and memory with regard to an enduring sin…”

“…Its spread from Texas to the rest of the United States accelerated in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., as a sort of home-going for King and other victims of white-supremacist violence, fusing sorrow and jubilation…”

“…For Du Bois, the path to a full liberation included restitution, land redistribution, the guarantee of a quality education, and positive and proactive protections for civil rights for the formerly enslaved and their descendants. Until those goals were achieved, he predicted, black Americans would be consigned to an unsteady state of second-class citizenship that would always tend toward oblivion. To Du Bois, if true material equality could not be enforced and racial hegemony smashed even by might of victorious arms, then it was proof that white supremacy would always have the power to escape any cage placed around it. Securing reparations, and a companion package of reforms that actually siphoned power from white elites and gave it to black laborers, was not just a practical necessity, but a moral test…”

Parks Department applied new sports coating to “The Pit” in preparation for sharing our Park with the East River youth groups who will need other venues if the new plan proceeds. It’s an all-on effort for the Lower East Side. The Parks team has been moving quickly – and will, going forward, be reaching out to the neighborhood and other park users.

We have communicated to the Parks Department that there will be even more pressure to get the Broome Street bathrooms up and running (with security and open 24/7 if we want to stop the park from being used as a latrine).

We also need to get brighter lighting in the area, ensure the Hua Mei Bird Sanctuary is protected from flying balls, and outreach to the Bike Polo folks, neighborhood youth, local schools Emma Lazarus, MS 131, Pace HS, residents, etc.

Time for that youth kiosk we were talking about with Ceci Cela? Especially to welcome girls who are statistically absent from much Park use? Volleyball net we’ve been asking for that the girls wanted?

We (the Coalition and Parks and Citizens for NYC and Bloomingdales staff volunteers will be out in force on June 28th to take on the New Forsyth Conservancy garden beds that have been tended the past few years by Tenement Museum staffers.

Stay tuned.

Good news in the land of climate resiliency!

All Welcome to Sara Roosevelt Park near Chrystie and Houston Streets – inside the Park – you’ll see it!

DUE TO RAIN! Still gonna be fabulous!

With special thanks to Council Member Chin, Partnerships for Parks, and City Parks Foundation!

This is HUGE.

From New Yorkers for Parks:

and we all thank New Yorkers for Parks for their fierce, relentless and principled leadership in this fight.

At Houston/Chrystie

From the Lo-Down: Artist Anina Gerchick unveiled her latest BIRDLINK sculpture in Sara D. Roosevelt Park last Sunday. The living art sculpture made its way here after a prototype was set up on Governor’s Island last summer. Another sculpture was set up in the East River State Park in Williamsburg last fall. The project is meant to alert people to the challenges faced by migrating birds that may be on the edge of extinction.”

From BoweryBoogie: “This jungle-like framework – assembled with an ascending design of crates and wood poles – offers food and shelter throughout the year for the “lower and middle canopy” local birds, as well as insects and butterflies. It’s also a refuge for birds migrating biannually through the area.”

Karlin spotted the fallen tree.

From BoweryBoogie: “…Chrystie Street, just north of Grand” for photo go to BoweryBoogie website link.

This is why we fight for a Parks base line budget – we need to fund more arborists!

From The Hort’s* Pam Ito:

“High school students from Emma Lazarus on Hester Street woke up early on their DOE day off to work in Sara Roosevelt Park yesterday.  With support from Council Member Margaret Chin and oversight from Park Department gardener Kaitilin, 18 English language learners planted four dozen perennials.  The students weeded in three areas along Forsyth, then planted in two. Please stop by and say hello to the lirope, vinca, echinaces, bee balm and hostas!

*The Horticultural Society of New York