New York
has halted
construction of the Marsha P. Johnson Park in Williamsburg after the
civil rights icon’s family and Black trans activists objected to the park’s
design and lack of community input.
The park has
been widely panned as ugly and in direct opposition to Johnson’s legacy of
community organizing.
Construction
was halted after Johnson’s family members denounced the project during a
community meeting. They said the state was using Johnson’s legacy as a prop to
revamp the area.
Johnson’s
cousin, James Carey, said that he was notified the park would be renamed in her
honor but added that despite his attempts to be involved in discussions about
the park, no one ever returned his multiple emails and phone calls.
“I sent
correspondences to the governor personally to let him know that our family as a
whole were happy that you’re naming the park in the memory of our family
member, however, please when the occasion arises, please include us,” he said.
“Not one person — no one — responded, and I find it absurd.”
“I personally
feel this was a mass deception campaign and our family was deceived. Moving
forward, from this point forward, no one will be trying to exploit my cousin’s
name without consulting with my family.”
Transgender
activists are also crying foul, saying they were also deliberately kept out of
the loop.
“Stop saying
y’all consulted the Black trans community, we are the Black trans
community,” Mariah Lopez of the Strategic
Transgender Alliance for Radical Reform, who is a Black Latina trans woman,
said. “What happened is a group of people selected who were the other people,
who were important, not the ones that didn’t say what they didn’t want to
hear.”
Locals are
angry that the state closed off half of the area with very little notice before
starting to rip out a concrete slab. The slab was to be replaced with a
“colorful thermoplastic mural” that has residents dubbing it the “plastic
park.”
Johnson’s
family said they were also unaware that the local community had issues with the
state’s decisions as well since they were locked out of the planning process.
“We were not
aware that the community had a disagreement with the park design,” Johnson’s
great-niece said at the meeting. “We were somewhat caught out of the loop in
that regard. We are very saddened, I would almost say disgusted by the lack of
transparency that has taken place.”
Transgender
artist Molly Lenore originally designed the park’s updated look.
SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION
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